Mystery Of The Veil
by Shadowz101
Summary: When Sirius fell through the Veil at the end of Fifth year, his sacrifice invoked powerful magic. Lily, now back from the dead has vowed to guide Harry and keep him alive for the coming darkness. Armed with a Loving mother and new knowledge, will Harry finally be able to get the life he's always wanted? UPDATE: Chapter 8 half finished.
1. The Veil

**This is an idea that suddenly came to me one day while I was reading the Harry Potter books. To anyone that reads my other stories, Changes is now discontinued but I will be carrying on with Risen From the Ashes when I get some spare time this idea has just consumed me. This story came from an errant thought I had. What if the veil wasn't just one way. Sirius wasn't dead when he fell through so would that make a difference? I also love Lily Evans as a character and it's a shame she wasn't explored more in the HP universe. Here's my take on her anyway.**

**Big thanks to Gotimtim for editing this chapter and making it vaguely readable lol. Anyone who hasn't should read his stories. I'll try and keep A/Ns to a minimus I just thought I should introduce the story to my new readers. I know the summary has a lot to be desired but trust me the story itself is good...well I think so anyway lol anyway, read, comment, favorite...flame me if I deserve it but either way tell me what you think. Chapter 2 is already in progress and I should have an update for you at least in the next 2 weeks maybe even before then. Let's see how it goes.  
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**Thanks.  
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**$hadowz**

The veil is probably one of the greatest mysteries in the ministry. No-one knows how it got there and no-one knows who built it. No one even knows how old it is. All people know about it is that it's simply just there and anyone that passes through dies in an instant; their body disappearing through it. Not a single person could tell you how it works. Long ago, In times of war the ancient device was used as a humane way to execute prisoners; those who were so vile and so evil that the death penalty still stood, and not even Azkaban would be a worthy enough punishment for them. The room the device was housed in was completely empty, save for the massive arch that enclosed the veil. To most people that came into this room, which wasn't many admittedly, there was an eerie quiet that permeated the walls and chilled them to the core. Not even Dementors instilled as much unease as this simple room did and those who could avoid going here did. A few people even claimed to hear voices whispering from the veil, haunting those who venture near.

When Harry Potter and his friends broke into the ministry, it was perhaps the first time in many years the chamber had been used. I don't know if you could call a to the death battle 'use' but still, the air was being filled by the hum of magic, lit up like a Christmas tree as curses and hexes buzzed around the room. While not perhaps the most famous battle of the war, or the most destructive, it was perhaps the most important. It opened the eyes of the government to the fact that Lord Voldemort had indeed returned, after nearly a year of openly refusing the idea. It was perhaps this blatant ignorance that cost Sirius Black his life. While it was true that Harry had been led there under false pretences and that some would argue he shouldn't have been there to begin with. No-one can deny the fact that had the Ministry heeded his and Dumbledores warnings then maybe there would have been more defences and everyone could have got out of there alive.

Sirius didn't feel anything as he passed through the veil. He had been struck unawares by the Killing Curse of Bellatrix Lestrange and simply fell back, eyes wide in shock. His greatest mistake had been his arrogance and he knew that. Even in death he could see what a fool he'd been. Now Harry had no family left and he felt bitter sitting around in the afterlife, looking down at his godson swallowed in grief. When he went to Dumbledore's office later that night, he could hardly believe his eyes. Harry was enraged…incensed. Sirius had never seen Harry so angry. It just wasn't in his nature. He watched as Harry destroyed Dumbledore's office, pointing the finger at his failings. Sirius allowed himself a chuckle at that. Only Harry would have the gall and courage to stand up to the Headmaster. Now he had a more complete view of what was going on, he could see that Dumbledore wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

He was flawed just like anyone else and had made fatal mistakes in Harry's upbringing. It made him sad that he was now in no position to help the man. Even when ranting and raving at the headmaster, anyone could see how dead his eyes looked. They simply had no life left in them. He had lost nearly everything and each year he was losing more and more. If things carried on the way they were, pretty soon he was likely to do something rash…something suicidal just to end it all. He looked completely lost.

Sirius took his attention away from Harry, not wanting to see anymore. Being dead, he realized was like being in your own mind. You could see all you wanted to see and do what you felt like. Right now he was sitting in a mock-up of the Griffindore common room. It was one of the few places he called home, other than James's house. He hated Grimauld place with a passion and would have burned it to the ground had the Order not needed it's use. For a second he thought about making a cup of hot chocolate and it appeared before him under a coaster, one of the advantages of this place being that you only had to think of something you wanted and it appeared. He knew he could get up and make one but he found he didn't have the willpower. It hurt to see his godson in so much pain and even thinking about it made him hurt inside.

"He'll be ok Sirius…he's a strong lad" came a voice from beside him. James was sitting next him, loosely wrapping an arm round the soldiers of his Marauder friend. For years he had wanted to see his face and to hear the voice of his best friend again. He just hoped it would be under better circumstances and in a long, long time. He took a tentative sip before his half heated reply came.

"I know James…I just…I feel like I've failed him. If only I shut my god-"

"We can't dwell on whats happened." James interrupted."It's happened now and nothing we can do will change it. He'll be okay eventually, just give him time. As I recall you weren't in the best state after our deaths either," James said giving a humourless laugh. His free arm was wrapped around a red haired girl on the couch next to him. She smiled kindly in reassurance but Sirius could see the pain in her eyes too.

"There is nothing you could have done," Lily said soothingly. He knew she was right but couldn't help but feel regret. All those years he will never get with his godson. He suddenly felt guilty. Here were the two people that knew exactly how he felt, people that have probably felt like that for the last 14 years. They should have been able to raise their son but Lord Voldemort had shattered that dream in an instant, killing them down mercilessly. Sirius felt bad about feeling bad now. The irony was not lost on him.

"Thank you" Said Lily after a few more minutes of silence. She almost whispered the words but her eyes were locked on his, a smile on her lips.

"For what?" asked Sirius.

"For being there…I know you didn't get much time with him but thank you for being there for him." She smiled. Sirius could only look to the floor in embarrassment.

"It was nothing" he mumbled. In truth it wasn't. To him it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

A few more minutes passed off in uncomfortable silence. In all the years he wished to see James and Lily's face again and now he had no idea what to say. The words seem to escape him. It took him several minutes before he could think of a way to break the tension.

"So what have you two been doing here then? I take it the afterlife isn't all sitting in what looks to be the castles common room watching over Harry."

"I thought you'd never ask," came James' reply, a smile back on his face. "For the most part we have been watching over our Harry but we also speak to our other relatives who have passed. Did you know we are related to the Perevells?" he said but Sirius simply shook his head. He didn't even know who they were.

"They were the creators of the Deathly Hallows". Sirius's eyes bulged at that statement.

"They are real?" came his surprised reply.

"Very," said Lily though he could feel anger in her voice. "If Dumbledore hadn't of taken that damned cloak off of James-"

"Then we would still be dead and Voldemort would have it" James said turning to face Lily. "You don't seriously think a simple invisibity cloak would have saved either of us do you? Or kept Harry out of harms way? He would have found out one way or another and killed us both…there was nothing that could have been done sweetheart," he said softly.

With that statement her anger ebbed a little though you could still see in her eyes that she was far from happy with the man. In truth no-one could blame her. Gears turned in Sirius's head as he worked out the meaning of their words.

"You mean that's the cloak? _The_ cloak?" he asked in deep surprise.

The Hallows were a legend, a fairy tale told to wizarding children before bed. The fairytale spoke of three brothers who had cheated death and were granted boons from Death himself. The catch was that these boons were more like curses in a way.

The first brother asked for an undefeatable wand and a wand was forged from an Elder tree, wielding power like no other. The man became arrogant and bragged about it after winning a wizarding duel and was subsequently killed for it; such was the jealousy of the people that overheard his boasting.

The second brother asked for a way to bring the dead back to life so death picked up a stone and said the stone could bring anyone back to the land of the living. The catch was that they didn't belong; their presence mere apparitions rather than solid object. The person in question was cold and distant. The brother, thinking that he could bring the woman he had hoped to marry back to life, eventually killed himself, such was the madness of his longing.

The last brother was wise and cunning, and didn't trust death at all. So he asked for a way to evade death, to avoid him completely. Reluctantly Death gave over his own cloak of invisibility. After many years Death never found this man until he reached a ripe old age and welcomed him with open arms like an old friend, gifting the cloak to his son so he may repeat the pattern. It was a story told to teach humility to children. He had never thought there would actually be some truth to the story.

James simply nodded.

"Yes _the_ cloak. I'll admit I didn't know at the time what it was. I know Harry doesn't…Dumbledore saw it for what it was and wanted to examine it. Let's just say he was…-"

"Obsessed?" Lily offered.

"You could call it that, with that Hallow. He's got the Elder Wand in his possession now. The only one that remains lost is the resurrection stone." James finished.

This gave Sirius a lot to think about. Evidently Dumbledore wasn't the person he thought he was. Of course he knew he wasn't evil like Voldemort by any means, he just didn't think it was wise to give Dumbledore that kind of power. With all the events that had been happening last year and the way the Headmaster had treated Harry's situation, his opinion of the man had gone down considerably. His mistakes had cost Sirius his life and more importantly, Harry's only real parental figure. While it was true Remus was still alive, it was easy to assume he would be too busy over the coming years due to the war to act as such a figure.

"Hmmm," voiced Sirius though fading into his own thoughts. "Well this is certainly news. I'm still not comfortable with Dumbledore pulling the strings but I guess there is nothing we can do now and if I hadn't died I doubt I wouldn't know the extent of what's happened."

"Exactly," replied Lily, her eyes exuding sadness. "It's a double edged sword. Only now that we are gone do we know the information that could save Harry's life, and what's more is that if people would just _tell_ him everything he needs to know, he would have a much better chance of things.

Dumbledore's involvement is more of a hindrance than anything else. He's by no means a bad person but he seems to think his opinion is the only one and history dictates that his judgement is far from infallible. It's just so…frustrating sometimes," she finished almost sounding weary. She laid her head on James shoulder as he reassuringly squeezed her closer to him. They all felt so lost. It was a few more minutes before anyone spoke again.

"Damn! I just remembered," exclaimed Lily with a look of horror on her face. "Now you're dead, all of the Black estates and the Black vault will be inherited by the Malfoys! As if Voldemort doesn't have enough resources at his disposal."

To this Sirius smiled.

"I've already taken care of that. Soon after I escaped from Azkaban I named Harry my successor. Everything will go to him! Ha ha the Malfoy's won't get a knut don't you worry about that"

"Thank God," Laughed both James and Lily and soon after Sirius was laughing with them.

"You think anyone will try and interfere?" Asked James tentatively.

"Don't think so. Even the Minister Of Magic himself can't interfere with Gringotts matters. Since the Black vault is one of the biggest in existence the goblins will probably pay special attention to the change in the vaults ownership. Their culture has so many laws I doubt anyone could get to it if they tried. Rest assured, the money is safe." Said Lily, conviction in her voice.

Lily was the smartest person anyone of them had ever known. She was almost never wrong and no-one was going to challenge her on this.

It was a single small piece of good in a whole mess of bad. No doubt Voldemort would find another way to fund his reign of terror but at least he won't be getting his hand on the Black fortune. Harry would have a hard enough time of things as they were he didn't need anything else making life harder.

What should have been a happy reunion between friends was becoming a very sombre affair. They all wanted to be out in the real world doing something. What good was information if you could do nothing with it. They couldn't even talk with people that indeed _ could _ use it instead they were stuck there…in their own 'heaven', no amount of irony lost in the fact none of them were happy there. The place itself was their own personal utopia there was no doubt about that, they just wished they could help those in peril down below. It felt like an injustice. They wanted to be with Harry so desperately that they would do anything to get down.

For the next hour the three of them tried to talk about old times, summoning beer and snack food as they reminisced about times of old; James and Lily's wedding, the first time the marauders became Animagi, James's first prank of Severus (Lily looked annoyed when he mentioned that...she always disagreed with his treatment of Severus), the creation of the Marauders Map, how James finally got Lily to give him a chance, some disastrous dates that Sirius had had.

As the night wore on, more and more stories came to air for the first time in years but no matter how much they laughed and joked no-one could seem to shift the hollow feeling they had on their chest. They didn't feel like they deserved fun. They had all failed in protecting what mattered most to them.

James didn't even have his wand on him when Voldemort struck him down in the Hallway and Sirius was too busy taunting his cousin to notice to curse that managed to blast him through the veil. Lily was without any blame at all but she still felt guilty. She done everything she could and still couldn't protect her son.

The blood protection wasn't infallible as Harry's fourth year had proven. In truth she could have given him the moon and it still wouldn't rid her of the guilt she held for simply not being there. Everyone deserved their parents.

What was worse is that she had to watch as her only son was regularly beaten and abused by her _sister_ and her husband. The one protection she had given Harry against Voldemort being the same curse that couldn't protect him from _them_. Just watching his treatment at the Dursleys made her eyes cloud over with anger. She could forgive Petunia for almost anything but the way she treated her son was overstepping a line that no-one should ever cross.

She would forgive anything that she did, after all she was her sister even if they didn't see eye to eye but this? This was unforgivable. Vernon was even worse in a way, constantly belittling him and even hitting him on occasion. Even when Harry saved their son from Dementors over a year ago they still blamed him and shunned him. What was worse is that there was never any retribution. Dumbledore would do nothing, and Harry would never tell anyone, his noble attitude not wanting to offload his problems onto someone else. The wards around the property also made it impossible for anyone with intent to harm _any_ of the inhabitants from coming near it so no-one could help even if they knew.

The room had just started to go quiet again when there was a loud knock on the door. It was so unexpected that Sirius jumped up and knocked his drink over himself. Lily's eyes widened slightly in alarm and surprise but other than a little twitch she recovered quickly.

"Ah Merlin's balls…expecting anyone James?" he asked while trying to dry himself off with a tissue.

"No…" he looked confused and…scared for some reason.

"What's wrong Prongs? I know that look" Sirius asked with a little concern. James sat back in his chair and took a deep breath.

"No-one can find this place unless we let them. So whoevers at the door shouldn't be there as we didn't tell them to come."

The door knocked again, a little louder and slower this time. There were worried faces all around but also tinged with a tad bit of curiosity. Who could be calling at this time? If no-one knew where they were then how could someone find them? Why were they even here? In the end curiosity won out over fear and Lily got up out of her seat and made for the door.

"Draw your wands just in case…I know we can't die again but we can still be hurt," she said in a low voice as she slowly twisted the handle.

You could feel the tension in the room; the only sound being made was the slight creaking as the metal hinges of the door swung it open and revealed a figure. Lily narrowed her eyes as a man she didn't recognise was standing with his arms crossed outside the door. His black robes seemed to billow out and move even though there was no wind. They didn't know who he was but knew enough to realise this wasn't just a simple visitor.

"Ah….who are you?" Lily asked tentatively to the stranger keeping her wand drawn.

The stranger simply lowered his hood and smiled, revealing a young man with black hair and yellow eyes. Glowing white runic markings covered his face, emanating an energy that was foreign to her. Lily didn't know what to make of it.

"Relax I mean you no ill will. I come on the authority of the Source himself,"

"The Source?" Lily asked confused.

"God, Jehovah, Allah…he has many different names" He said calmly, Lily's eyes widened at this and she quickly let the man in gesturing to the chairs

"Stand down he's safe" she turned back to the stranger, "Come sit down…I trust you have a message of some kind? I'm sorry I'm not sure how these things work. What's your name if it's not too much trouble to ask?"

He laughed again. _Human souls can be so naïve_ he thought. He made his way to one of of the comfy chairs and made himself comfortable, snapping his fingers to make a beer appear out of thin air.

"You don't need to do that" said James shaking his head. "Just ask the room in your mind what you want and it will appear".

"Oh I know…let me have my fun eh?" said the stranger with a chuckle.

Sirius and James laughed with him for a few seconds and then sat on the sofa opposite him with apprehensive looks on their faces. _ What possible reason would the Source have to want to leave a message with them? They were just a few wizards, nothing important about them except the child they all died to protect._ Those identical thoughts were running through all three of the them and the unnatural pause before the man started speaking wasn't helping.

"First of all, I don't have a name…at least not one humans can pronounce anyway. I guess you could call me fate or destiny. I control certain aspects of the human world but I can't interact with it. I guess you could say I maintain the equilibrium of the world".

"Equilibrium? How on earth is Lord Voldemort in anyway part of balance?"

Fate looked down for a few seconds before replying. He looked sad, like he was reliving a particularly bad memory.

"Ah…well he wasn't my doing. What you must understand is that there are many like me. One Angel can't govern the whole world-"

"Wait a sec you're an angel?" Lily interrupted. This hardly looked like what she always assumed an angel would look like. No wings or pure white cloaks with unparralleled beauty. This man looked rugged and wouldn't look out of place on a battlefield in the medieval ages.

"Yes" he said looking annoyed for a brief moment. "Can people you please not interrupt again I'm not supposed to be here for long he said in a slightly irritated tone. Lily looked chastised before speaking in a low whisper

"Sorry." She said, still looking down.

"Thank you" continued Fate "As I was saying, there is too much to do for a single one of us to cover the entire globe. In fact there is probably too much for the hundred or so of us there are now but we manage. What I am about to tell you, you must listen closely. It's all relevant in a way and I'll explain the best I can. About 60 years ago, one of our own got corrupted…turned dark. For years he caused trouble out of nothing, making trouble just for the hell of it. We didn't know what was going on before it was too late. It was _him_ that caused the first and second world wars. He tried twice to destroy Britain and failed. By the time we got round to stopping him, millions had died. We tried him in Judgement before the archangels and he was eventually executed but little did we know that he had already set events in motion." His expression turned grave, sadness clouding his eyes as his tone came out almost strained.

"He tainted a young boys magic, removing all positive feelings from him. He could not love…he could not feel happiness…all he could feel was hate and anger and fear. That boy was Tom Riddle. At first we didn't notice as he just looked like another soul lost to dark magic which while tragic is still not all that uncommon. These people usually get hunted out and killed before anything truly bad can happen. Alas this did not happen. The moment he started creating Horcruxes everything changed. He could not be killed and he became subhuman, an animal hell bent on causing chaos and destruction. While he spouts a pure blood agenda to his followers in truth he really has no aim other than the watch the world burn and to live forever as it happened. He created the Horcruxes to avoid death but that was a small thing to him. A simple means to and end. He craves power it's a simple as that. He doesn't care what else happens around him."

James, Lily and Sirius sat there listening to Fate's tale of the man they knew as Lord Voldemort. It was interesting, hearing what motivated him but scary all the same.

"Some people just want to watch the world burn…" Lily muttered.

"What?" asked James.

Lily simply smiled her husband.

"Line from a muggle film but I think it applies in this case. You still haven't told us why you're here"

"No I haven't have I" he said getting up out of his chair and paced for a few seconds, eying each of the group in turn. It almost looked like he was pausing for effect, putting on a show just for the hell of it.

"A lot of things have not gone the way they should have because of him. Here was a man that feared death to the point of believing in a prophecy, a prophecy that would predict his downfall. In the end it was self fulfilled. Had he not listened to it in the first place it would never have had any power and it would remain unfulfilled like most prophecies in the Department Of Mysteries. In the end he created his own worst enemy, and has been paying the price ever since. He has nowhere near the amount of power now than he did before your death. Harry Potter planted seeds of doubt in his power and they have been growing ever since his curse rebounded and destroyed him on Halloween. Mark my words he is still powerful and dead as you very well know…" he paused for a second, taking in a deep breath before continuing.

"And now we are back to the reason I'm here; as I said, a of things have happened that shouldn't. He created Horcruxes; a magic so dark and against the fabric of humanity that life itself is evening the scales. The Source is instructing me to do something today that has never been done before, something that will probably never be done again."

His lips curled up into a smile. It would have looked sinister had his eyes not been gleaming in barely suppressed glee.

"He's allowing me to send one of you back".

To say they were surprised was an understatement. Lily's jaw hit the floor and James was doing his best fish impression, opening and closing his mouth quickly, not able to find the any sound to push out. Sirius looked almost white and if he wasn't already dead, anyone could mistake him for a corpse, for he was not moving an inch, such was the surprise at the man's statement.

"b-b-back?" Lily stammered. "To the living?"

"Yes the living. Normally even under this situation there would be no changing it, as death is final and absolute. There is no way around that. If we simply let people back because things were not going our way then hundreds of people would be sent back every day. No, this is a special circumstance, a circumstance you actually have Sirius to thank for." Said Fate again and for the first time since his announcement, Sirius moved.

"Me? what do you mean?" he asked, almost whispering, confusion on his face.

"Yes you. When you sacrificed your life for Harry and fell through the veil you invoked powerful magic. The same as Lily's in fact though you were not actually dead before you fell through the veil. If you think back you were hit by a red beam of light, not a killing curse. I have no idea what curse you were hit with but it doesn't matter as you were alive when you were knocked through the arch. Your act of love in saving Harry means the Veil has allowed an exchange. You have essentially swapped your life for James' or Lily's, depending on who chooses to go back. No-one but a blood relative of Harry's would be able to make use of this sacrifice so you two are the only candidates here. I know you had no idea at the time as to what you had done but you have essentially swapped your life for someone else's. I can't explain it. The source wouldn't tell me everything."

James and Lily could not believe what they were hearing. Here they were being given a chance to do something they had wanted to do since they died; give Harry a family. A lone tear ran down Lily's cheek, so overcome she was by raw emotion. It was a dream come true except there was one problem.

"You mentioned only one of us would be able to go back?".

Fate shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Yes…unfortunately I don't have the power to send you both back as it's an exchange. As soon as I send one of you through this side of the Veil then it will close again and no-one will be able to go through like before. I know it's a hard decision to make but you will need to decide which one of you will go." He walked towards the door backing a move to leave.

"I'll give you time to make your decision. Call me when you are ready".

He left the room, silently closing the door behind him, leaving behind the shocked faces of Lily, James and Sirius. A rare gift had been given and they needed to make the most of it. For a few minutes no-one said anything, contemplating the information they had been given. This was a chance to give Harry everything he had deserved and been stripped from him; a proper family. While it was true only one could actually come back, there were still the commissioned portraits stocked in the family vaults that automatically activated after the persons death. While it was no replacement, it was something that a boy starved of love would appreciate. This was no decision that could be taken lightly, even if there was no right or wrong answer. Harry would be ecstatic to be with James or Lily. To him it wouldn't matter which. It was James who broke the silence first.

"Lily you should go." He said in a flat voice. Lily looked at James with a grim expression.

"Why me? he already has a mother. He needs you more than he needs me" she said sadly. James tentatively stroked her hair and looked into her eyes. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Already has a mother? You mean Molly? She may have taken him in and treated him like a son but she's still not her son. While I would love to meet him and tell him how much I am proud of him it is you that will make the most difference in his life." He said with steal in his voice. He could tell how dejected she felt. Ever since she saw him bonding with the Weasleys, he could see a slight tinge of jealousy mixed with pain as she looked at them. It was her job to take care of him and a cruel turn of events had prevented that. She was happy that he now had people that cared for him but still felt sad that she wasn't the one doing it.

He stroked her cheek as tears slowly leaked from her eyes.

"What do you mean? I've missed 14 years" she said, her voice quivering.

"So have I" James said, smiling at his wife, and wiping away a tear with his finger. "But he needs to feel loved more than anything. Don't get me wrong I love him dearly but you are perhaps the most loving person I have ever met," Lily gave a small laugh at that "and that is what he needs the most. Plus out of the two of us you're the more likely to be able to handle Dumbledore when the time comes". Her eyes darkened the last comment but she didn't say anything on it.

"Lily, James is right, you're the best choice. Prongs is my best friend and even I can say he's hardly the best person to deal with Dumbledore. You are the Hogwarts prodigy and are practically viewed as a saint among the wizarding world, at least to the ones who don't abide by pure blood philosophy. Don't forget that you helped us Marauders at school and were never caught once. I don't even think the teachers suspected you were involved in half the stuff we pulled..."

"Padfoot focus," James snapped but his eyes betrayed his face which was sparkling with badly hidden laughter.

"Oh right, sorry. The point I'm trying to make is you can make the most difference. Not to mention that the blood wards are tied to you, and only you can move them. If James comes back he will still make him live at the Dursley's and he will be miserable and dare I say it, so will James. I can name three good reasons for you being there instead of James for every reason James should be."

"I love him Lils, and it pains me to say this but he's right. I just want him away from those…_people"_ he said emphasising the last word. As much as he wanted to call them every name under the sun they were still Lily's family, even though she had more than a few choice words to describe them herself.

"O…ok" she sobbed silently. James wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulder as she cried silently into his chest.

"I'll miss you so much," She said into his chest.

By now James too had lost his composure. He was about to lose his wife again but not in the way he would expect. It was like she was about to die except in reverse. She would now leave to live a full life again.

He let tears flow freely from his eyes, knowing that they would meet again some day. He couldn't really decide whether they were tears of sadness of tears of joy as this was an equally sad and happy moment. It took some time before they were in enough control to speak again.

All the while Sirius sat silently, letting the two parents make this decision alone. It was not his place to interfere. As much as he wished it would be him going back to raise his godson, James and Lily deserved it much more. It was a few more minutes before Lily's voice called out towards to the doorway.

"We're ready" he called, still crying slightly.

The door opened again very slowly and Fate walked in. he stood still in the doorway, beckoning for the couple to come forward. Lily gave James and Sirius a long hug before she walked out, each step sounding loud in the silent room, knowing it could be a while before she saw either of them again. She drew it out as long as possible before Fate indicated that they needed to get going.

Her eyes shone with anticipation despite the sadness behind them. There was much pain in her heart yet hope was still there in a way; She was losing her husband but gaining a son. She couldn't wait to see what life would bring this time around. It was a dark time yes but light can be found in the darkest of places. She had a chance few had and damned if she was going to waste it.

In the short time she was crying on her husband's shoulder she already knew what she was going to do once she got back. First things first she was going to make a trip to Gringotts and reactivate her accounts and draw out some galleons and James' portrait.

While she could never have him in the flesh on her return she could still withdraw his portrait and put it in her residence. It was as much for Harry as it was for her. That brings her to her next job.

She needed to release one of her properties while she was in Gringotts. Since most of them were under a Fidelus Charm, no-one knew about them meaning she could be completely invisible. They made Harry the secret keeper when they bought them and since he was only a year old, he obviously wouldn't remember about it. It was the perfect plan and one of her better ideas. The child wouldn't know about it, but he was the only one he could tell anyone.

Sometimes she wished they did the same at Godrics Hollow but knew that someday people would need to be able to find them if they survived. As much as she hated to admit it, she believed Voldemort would have found them eventually regardless of Wormtail's betrayal and the secret keeper needed a voice.

It was a complex piece of magic to allow a baby to play such a vital role in a houses security as traditionally you had to say the vows but Lily found a way around it using Legilimency to convey the Instructions to the infant mind. Harry had no understanding of what he was doing but was able to do it anyway. She allowed herself a smile at her own ingenuity.

Next thing on the order of business was to pay her visit to Privet Drive. She had a few choice words to say to her sister. Inside she was seething at her and wouldn't let her get away with this. The only thing stopping her from cursing her to oblivion was her son. He was too good for his own good. Just thinking of the look on _dear Tuneys_ face as she opened the door would be priceless by itself. She toyed with the idea of buying a camera to capture the moment but then made a mental note to get the pensieve out the vault for that purpose; then she could few the memory a hundred times and enjoy the moment.

She needed to think of a way to convince Harry it was really her. With all that's happened in his life she doubted that he would just take her at her word. She made a mental note to procure herself some veritaserum on the way. She doubted even that was enough. She supposed she would have to cross that bridge when it came to it.

After a few minutes of walking, Fate gave her a small piece of paper with some writing on it.

"Don't open it now. This is a portkey" he explained, "As soon as it is opened you will appear in an side alley near Knockturn alley. Once you're out you're on your own I'm afraid. Good luck. No pressure but the fate of the world may very well be in your hands". He smiled at the last.

Lily could sense he was trying to lighten her mood but he was failing. If anything she felt even more nervous. When Fate next spoke he held out something that she hadn't seen in years and her eyes widened in surprise.

In his hands was her wand. It had been so long since she used it, her hands slowly picked it up out of his outstretched hand.

"I took the liberty of rescuing your wand from your vault, just in case you run into any trouble before you got there. I'm sorry I can't give you more but I doubt you'll need it."

She fingered the magically fused wood in her hands as if it were made of gold. She could feel the hum of the magic Inside her wand. It was like bring reunited with a long lost friend. The moment her fingers touched the wood she felt the magic creep through her veins like an invigoration draught.

It was then that the reality truly hit her and her tears began to fall in earnest. She was coming _home_. So overwhelmed by emotion she was that she could barely see in front of her. She was aware that she was being guided by the hooded figure next to her but that was it.

She pocketed the wand while she walked, almost locked inside her own head with her emotions swirling around. She was hours away from seeing her _son_…her own _son!_ She could barely contain the joy that was ravaging through her skin. She felt like she was about to explode, gone was the sorrow of only minutes before now replaced by the euphoria of knowing that she was going to be with family.

Before she knew it she was guided into a small room . At first glanced it looked nothing out the ordinary except the marble floor. The ceiling held a golden chandelier that gently breathed light around the small space. The walls were a light cream colour and which exuded a warmness and relaxed her slightly. At least until she saw looked to her right and saw what almost looked like a hole blasted into the wall. As she looked through it the only way she could describe the sight would be to say it looked like swirling smoke. There was no light like you see in cliché movies . It was black as night and the cold mist flowed out the bottom ominously, taken on the appearance of you would find in the old horror films. The veil itself looked like nothing special, just a hole in the wall. She guessed that was all it really needed to be. No sense in glorifying it.

Standing on the opposite side of the room was a young woman dressed in green and silver robes. Lily recognised her but couldn't place it. The only acknowledgement of her presence was a slight movement of her eyes, nothing more. It was as if she was sizing her up before she decided what to do next.

One thing she could identify with her was the pain that evident in her eyes. It painted a picture of regret that she could sympathise with. She couldn't say no more as she knew nothing of what caused this woman's pain. She didn't even know her name. She appeared to be wearing old robes which signified that she was not from Lily's time. In fact she could be hundreds of years old. Her dark black hair flowed past her shoulders, her ice blue eyes looking calculating and calm, even if the hidden horror was obvious…well obvious to her.

Lily was always a brilliant judge of character. She even protested against Pettigrew being secret keeper. It was a shame James never listened to her. Still too late now. Here was someone that could win a battle without even raising a wand. It made Lily wonder how she managed to end up here so young.

She was shocked out of her own musings when Fate broke the silence.

"Surely you're not going to just stand there. The Veil will only be open for another ten minutes. Be quick. Oh and I'm sure your tired of hearings this by but good luck. Remember to open the envelope as soon as your on the opposite side as the magical energy that the veil will give off with almost immediately alert the DMLE to your presence. You will have about 10 minutes though why you would want to stay there for any longer than a few seconds is beyond me."

He came up to Lily and gave her an uncharacteristic hug. It was short but it still shocked her. Hugged by an angel? What was the world coming to?

"This is where I leave you. You will find everything in working order at Gringotts. I have also taken the liberty of giving secretly giving Harry emancipated status using one of the old laws. I figured it should make training him easier if the Ministry tries anything like they did last year. Unlikely but I like to cover all eventualities. Unfortunately this will only leave you with 24 hours before Dumbledore will come to Privet Drive and inspect the wards. He won't be able to do anything but seeing as neither Harry nor Dumbledore know about this new development, it would be in your best interests to get there before he does. I think that's everything. Everything else you will have to learn on the fly"

Lily raised her eyebrow at this.

Fate huffed in frustration.

"We don't have time and you wouldn't likely remember everything anyway. It's best if I give you the base facts and you get free reign on everything else. Both you and your son are known for being quite…" he smiled at the last word almost giving him a deranged look "…resourceful".

Lily had to smile to herself at the last part. She had to admit that he was right. Too much information would only lead to unnecessary mistakes. She simply nodded and took a few tentative steps forward to the darkness. The mysterious woman in the corner of the room said nothing but nodded encouragingly.

With a deep breath she finally stepped into the hole in the wall, the "other" side of the veil that no living person would ever see. As soon as her body crossed the threshold all she could feel was a raging pain. Her body felt like it was being split apart. The darkness turned into a swirl of colours and as she was thrust through what felt like a vortex of fire. It was excruciating. There was no sound at all. She tried to look down or close her eyes but then it suddenly dawned her her she didn't have a body or eyes. She was stuck in this torrent of abuse until the end. After a few minutes her ears began to pop and sound was starting to become apparent to her again. She heard wails and screams and was horrified when she was white wisps barrelling towards her at breakneck speak. _The souls of the dead_. It made sense. Usually death was only a one way street. Here she could see hundreds upon hundreds of souls barrelling past her to where she came from.

More and more souls flowed past her and her hearing was becoming more and more astute. She could hear the whispering of spirits like they were In the room with her, each passing soul looking at her in confusion. The must have been travelling at over a hundreds miles an hour. She didn't know; speed had no bearing here. All she knew was the questioning look on each and every face that she saw. She knew why obviously. It was unnatural to come back from the heavens. Even someone who has never been to the land of the dead…even someone who is living and knows nothing of the laws of heaven knows that at its most fundamental level, death is absolute.

Before she knew it the journey was over. There was no real warning. The only thing she saw was the dark opening at the end of the "tunnel" that signified the arch.

The pain raging through her suddenly stopped as she was spat out the veil at breakneck speed. It was only quick reflexes that saved an early trip back as she swiftly drew her wand and cast a cushioning charm before she hit the floor.

Looking back at the mysterious Veil she smiled to herself as she stood up in the dark room.

"I'll protect him James. I promise"

With that she drew the small envelope out of her pocket and opened it. The familiar feeling of port key travel enveloped her as she disappeared from the room in a flash. Little did she know someone else had followed her back.

**Sorry about the long update for anyone that's waiting for chapter 2. It's been sent to my beta and as soon as I get it back I will post it.**

**Thanks for your patience guys**

**$hadowz**


	2. Gringotts

**Afternoon guys! or whenever it is for you depending on the time difference. This is the next chapter of the story as you can tell and I apologize for the long time it's taken for me to do this. I have the next chapter 2/3s of the way done so the wait won't be nearly as long on the next chapter...maybe a week or 2 at most.**** This is the unbetad version of the chapter and I will be replacing it with the beta'd version as soon as my beta has done the chapter. I just didn't feel right about leaving it this long to update so I just did a quick spell check and some trimming before sending it out. I hope you guys like it I know it's not perfect. Introducing new character new next chapter so stay tuned!  
**

Chapter 2

The first thing she noticed is that it was getting dark, the soft glow of sunset gently emanating from the west. As she took slow, measured breaths for the darkened shadow of the alley she savored every intake of air as if it were her last. She was alive and had a purpose again. She smiled as the light made her skin almost glow. It had been years since she had seen the son, the feel of it, however fleeting, almost made her leap in the air with excitement.. As she edged out from the shadows quietly she looked around frantically as she moved, making sure no-one was able to see her. It would ruin everything if she was spotted this early. Pulling her black hood over her head she stepped out onto the cobbled street of Diagon Alley and made her way to Gringotts. There seemed to be no-one around, the streets deserted as most of its shops were closing up for the evening. It was winter so the dark crept in early. She passed a window and took a look in the window at her reflection. The first thing she noticed is that she was 21 again, her young body smiling back at her with happiness. She could barely contain herself but decided quietly to herself that she could celebrate later. There was work to be done. She looked at her watch and it read 16:38. _Great_ she thought. She had just over 20 minutes to get to Gringotts before they closed the main doors for new customers.

As she moved up the street she took careful notice of each building. Times had changed a lot since she was a young girl. New shops she didn't recognize popped up and old ones disappeared. On the corner of one street she spotted a large lit building that looked like a joke shop. It was one of the only shops that still had customers. Most of the other shop windows were darkened and some were even boarded up. She supposed that lives were not the only casualties Voldemorts war had started. This was a small piece of light in a whole world of dark. People needed laughs that much was certain for if they didn't laugh, they would surely cry.

Keeping her hood up, she walked past the busy building. As curious as she was she knew she couldn't get any closer without being notice. Shops generally frowned on hooded figures. They think you're a thief of a criminal and you arouse suspicion you don't need. Moving on she saw something that shocked her to the core. Ollivanders was boarded up. She quickly run over to the building and had a look through the cracks in the board, wondering what could have caused this. There was no way he would close his shop by choice and looking inside only confirmed her suspicions. The place was ransacked completely. Shelves were all over the place and scorch makes on the walls marked where spell fire had obviously occurred. There were even bloodstains on the floor here and there. Looking more carefully she could see the occasional body part laying on the floor, a stray hand or leg. _At least he didn't go without a fight _she thought. The mysterious wand maker impressed her. Even against insurmountable odds he still stood tall and fought. Now there was a man she could respect.

Having a sudden brainwave she decided to try and sneak in. Picking up her wand for the first time in 14 years she cast a silent unlocking charm on the door, having quickly looked around to make sure nobody had seen her. She didn't expect anything to happen really. Who in their right mind would allow their shop to be opened by a simple unlocking charm. It was then she was surprised as the doors latch clicked and swung open gently to reveal a dark room.

"_Lumos" _she commanded. She audibly gasped at the sight before her. Looking in from outside she could only see a fraction of the damage the death eater attack had wrought. What was once a shop counter was now a mass of splintered bits of wood. The floor was covered in dust and blood splatter, the carnage spreading to every corner of the room. Bits of human flesh were everywhere, burnt and cut off their victims. Ollivander had certainly outdone himself. It soon became evident that he had been captured. If he had been killed it would have been all over the _Prophet_ and by the looks of his shop, killing him would be a lot easier said than done.

She moved behind the counter, stepping over the remains carefully, jagged pieces of wood pointing towards the ceiling like stalagmites coming out of the earth. The tall shelves that once held hundreds of wands were beaten and battered into submission, wand boxes scattered on the floor. She was surprised to see a wand tip poking out the side of one of those boxes when she bent down to take a closer look. She slowly brought the wand out the box. It was a dark mahogany with a golden handle. It felt warm in her hands although it didn't feel as comfortably as her normal wand. Still, it would make a decent back up in case things get rough. She pocketed it and moved on, careful not to step on any of the knocked down boxes. After a few minutes she realized she could just summon all available wands in the store to her and wordless waived her wand. To her surprise about 20 wands from different parts of the shop shot out their hiding places to her. She actually had to duck to avoid getting hit by the numerous sticks of word. When all the wands were near, she opened a bag and put them all inside, using an undetectable extension charm to fit them all in. Taking another look at her watch, she saw it read 16:54.

_Crap_ she thought. She had got so side tracked with exploring the abandoned shop that she had almost forgot what she had came here to do. There was no way she would be able to navigate Gringotts unnoticed during the day. Shrinking down her bag she promptly left, locking the door behind her when she left. As an afterthought she added a few extra charms to keep people away. No need anyone else knowing she was there was there? Putting her hood up she walked purposely to the front steps of Gringotts. She didn't have time to look around anymore. She wasted all that in Ollivanders, though it was hardly a waste; all those extra wands would doubtlessly come in handy at some point. She walked up the steps with a sense of foreboding. It didn't matter who you were, you could be the most fearless witch or wizard in the world, walking into Gringotts sent a shiver up any ones spine. Goblins were beings to be feared and rightly so. They were ruthless and run by their own moral code. No-one ever got on the wrong side of a Goblin without ample retribution.

When she came to the door she brushed it open quietly and stepped inside. She didn't dare take her hood down. Though the Goblins didn't care who you were as long as you had gold, there could still be clients inside and she was one of the most recognizable witches in the world. She could have used glamor charms before she went in but what was the point? She would only have to take them down again within minutes of her applying them. No point using magic when a simple black hood does an equally good job.

Taking a deep breath she made her way to the signing in desk at the very back of the bank. Many Goblins leered at her as she walked on the polished marble the very back of the bank, her steps seeming like thunderclaps in the silent hall, each one echoing like drum taps. Goblins scribbled on their parchment, their rhythmic scratching sound blending in with her footsteps, creating an almost therapeutic music. They looked at her distrustfully as she walked past, not that they cared, they just didn't trust her. She had to smile at that. Who would trust a lone woman coming into a bank just before closing time covered in a dark cloak. It was obvious to anyone that cared to look that she wanted her identity hidden. In trying to hide her identity she was making it obvious she had something to hide.

There was some kind of poetic irony in that.

Before long she stopped in front of the desk. She always wondered why the Goblins insisted their workstations be so high. She almost had to crane her neck to see the diminutive creature working on his parchment. Maybe it had something to do with trying to make themselves seem bigger than they are. It was no secret how much Goblins mistrusted wizards, so it could even something so simple as subtle intimidation. It didn't matter. She wasn't here to ponder the reasoning behind Goblin architecture.

"Name" the Goblin said without looking up from his parchment. His voice was lazy, as if he didn't really care. He probably doesn't. This was just a mundane job after all. Letting herself smile to herself she replied. _This is where the fun starts_ she thought to herself.

"Lily Potter. _I wish to speak to director Ragnok if he is available. I have important business to discuss with him"_ she said the last part in flawless Gobbledegook. To say the goblin was surprised was an understatement, though whether it was about the fact he was speaking to a dead woman or the fact that a human knew the goblin language so well she didn't know. His eyes widened as he looked down at the human. Taking down her hood, her red hair flowed down her shoulders, her green eyes surveying the goblin. It was considered bad form to their species if you broke eye contact. As he regained his composure he smiled, at least she hoped it was a smile. His teeth barred, showing his sharp fangs.

"I heard you were dead" He growled.

"I get that a lot" She replied sweetly. The Goblin eyed her for a few moments before carrying on.

"_I take it you want to claim back your vault and it's contents" _ he spoke in his native tongue

"_That among other things. Is Director Ragnok available?"_ she replied. She didn't really need this line of questioning. The Goblin looked down at her curiously. Not many humans called upon the director by name. She must be an important client.

"_That depends why you want to see him" _The Goblin smiled.

"_Let's just say that I have a number of things that need to be sorted with my accounts. Coming back from the dead is far from simple I bet and there are a few things related to my accounts and investments that I probably need to take care of sooner or later. Being me accounts manager there are a lot things I need to discuss with him in private". _She said, trying to give as formal tone as possible. If there was one thing that Goblins despised more than anything else is idle chit chat. It was best just go get straight to the point and show no fear. They would prey on it like vultures.

The Goblin looked down at her curiously, scowling slightly. Ragnok was not the Director of the UK Gringotts branch for no reason. For her to have him as a manager must mean that she's a wealthy client at least. His respect for her grew, now knowing her importance.

"_Very well. I'll let him know you're here. Just take this eligibility test and take a seat". _He showed me a familiar piece of parchment and passed me a quill. Knowing what to do, she pricked my finger using the quill that was let a tiny drop of blood drip down onto the black parchment. She had done this hundreds of times; it was the most effective way of making sure no-one tried to gain access to other peoples vaults. You could come in under Polyjuice and a number of arcane spells but your blood would still be your own. You can't fake that. Well you can, it's just such old and dark magic that no-one would know how. Besides if you were caught, you would be instantly killed, and not in a nice way either.

As the tiny droplet him the parchment it instantly started to fade, disappearing into the blank paper. In it's place words started to form, starting off slightly faded but slowly becoming more opaque with each passing moment. Within two seconds, all her details were visible on the parchment.

Lily Potter

Born 30th January 1960 – Died October 31st 1981

Potter Main Vault No. 043 - To be claimed (currently held in trust for H J Potter until he reaches magical maturity)

Evans Main Vault No. 129 - To be claimed

Trust Vault No. 312

Slytherin Vault (Not claimed) No. 009

If the Goblin was surprised at the last vault on the parchment He did not show it. Lily herself was surprised for a few seconds until she remembered something important.

Inheritance by conquest.

In Voldemorts failure to beat Harry he had inadvertently invoked one of the more ancient laws wizards have. Most of the time Lily hated the Neolithic views that wizarding society had but in this case it could be a blessing. With all those resources she could help her son a lot and give him an even greater chance at survival. It was also something that Voldemort overlooked. While it was well known that the Slytherin family were now broke and devoid of money, it wasn't the money that interested her the most. There must be hundreds of tomes and books filled with long forgotten knowledge within whose walls. She surmised that even in the state they put themselves in, the Gaunts would never sell the books for money, their arrogance and pride not letting anyone not of their line privy to the knowledge that Salazar left behind. It was one of their greatest mistakes.

She smiled to herself. If there was one thing that being dead for 15 years had done it was give her a wider view of the big picture, something Dumbledore tried to do but failed. She had what could be considering the greatest advantage; knowledge.

"_Everything seems to be in order. Take a seat. I will let Master Ragnok know you are here." _The Goblin said briskly before walking off.

He almost looked fearful. It was amazing what one name on a piece of parchment could do. Though it could also be because it listed her time of death too. Goblin records were never wrong, so if it said she was dead, then she was dead. There was no use lying and just saying that the wizarding world made a mistake.

She sat down on one of the wooden chairs silently, waiting to be called. In this time she thought about what coming back truly meant to her. She was going to see her son again, that was a given but what else? She could talk to Remus again too and catch up all she had missed. She could be among friends again. She hadn't seen Cathy Grayson since for years even before her death. Maybe she would look her up. She was one of the few friends she had in Hogwarts that were still alive. She knew that because she kept tabs on those she cared about why she was in the realm of the dead. She thought about all the things she could now accomplish that she couldn't before. She didn't think about it before but now it was real it almost made her hyperventilate with badly concealed anticipation. All those dreams she left unfulfilled; Wanting to become a world renouned potioneer. She had her sight set on owning an apothecary in Diagon Alley ever since she discovered she was good at the subject. Now she could turn that into reality. She realized she was planning a little far ahead but she could do that now…she had time. She silently vowed to herself that she would make the most of every second that she had. She owed James that much.

She couldn't tell how many minutes past before the Goblin that saw her before came back with the banks director.

Ragnok was of average height for a Goblin but made up for that in a rather stocky appearance. His crimson eyes shone with intelligence and guile. Here was someone that could be your best friend or your worst enemy. He held himself upright and formally, his face rather impassive. His eyebrows gave a short jump when he saw her but other than that, there was no outward show of surprise at Lilys appearance.

Shaking of his initial surprise he stepped forward and shook Lilys hand before bowing. Instantly his demeanor became more relaxed.

"_I must say I was rather surprised to hear of your visit. The whole wizarding world believes you to be dead. I trust you're here to rectify that?" _Ragnok said in his native tongue.

"_No! Let them think that. I'm here for a rather different business. May we talk in your office?" _Lily replied swiftly in Gobbledegook. The younger Goblins eyes flicked between the two. It was unnusal for a wizard and a goblin to so informally to each other.

"_Of course. I'm sure you have quite a story. Follow me" _he said gesturing for her to follow. While she was following she noticed many eyes on her. A lot of Goblin workers in the hall had stopped what they were doing and eyed her with increased suspicion. She tried her best to ignore it but it still made her feel uneasy. Putting it at the back of her mind, she followed Ragnok round down a hall behind the front desk and turned right through the first door.

Closing the door behind him, he immediately gestured for Lily to sit down. The room was dark except for the soft light emitted by a hanging chandelier. She deduced it must have been powered by magic seeing as electrical objects couldn't function around the ambient magic of Diagon Alley. Then again she thought, these are Goblins, and with all the secrets they keep, this could well be electricity.

Ragnok sat himself down comfortably behind his work desk, which was covered in parchments and quills. It's dark mahogany wood made the room almost look aristocratic, with old style paintings on the walls and dark bookcases filled with beaten old books. He waited a few seconds for Lily to get herself comfortable before speaking.

"_Well this is rather a surprise Mrs Potter. I must say this is the last thing I expected when Shaklock came to me saying that one of my clients asked for an audience. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, and, if you don't mind me asking, how can you possibly be here. He have you on record as dead…and unlike the horribly unreliable wizarding records, we don't make mistakes"_ he said with a smile.

Lily knew she had to tell the truth at this point, though she was definitely going to omit some details. The Horcruxes were a no go area. There was no way in hell that she was going to part that kind of knowledge; the fewer people that knew about that particular branch of magic the better. If Voldemort even caught a whiff that someone had discovered his secret, his protections would multiply ten fold. They were hard enough to find and destroy as it was.

Taking a few seconds to compose herself she finally came out with a reply.

"_That may be because I really was dead" _Ragnok raised his eyebrows but did not interrupt. "_I cannot give you a full answer to your question because to be honest, I don't know the exact truth. All I can tell you is there was…an exchange of souls. When a friend of mine was killed a few weeks back, certain circumstances allowed me to come back to life. It's not something that can be copied to the best of my knowledge, at least not knowingly." _

Ragnok looked deep in thought, trying to comprehend what Lily had just told him. He knew that wasn't the whole truth but it was certainly enough of it. She was literally back from the dead. He expected some kind of trickery where she had faked her death in a way that could fool even the Goblin nation but never did he suspect that she was _actually_ dead. This was extraordinary.

"_Interesting...I take it you want to take back your accounts then" _Ragnok asked

"_Yes I would please Ragnok. I would also like to have a look at the accounts and look over how our investments are doing." _Lily replied in a business manner.

"_Of course Mrs Potter." _he snapped his fingers and a ledger appeared in front of him. Lily already knew what to do. Quickly drawing her wand, she sliced open her palm and let a small drop of blood flow on the parchment. Immediately after the blood dropped, she healed her hand and stowed away her wand.

Ragnok turned around the Ledger for Lily to read. She was shocked at what she saw. Everything was fine…more than fine actually. The Potter Vault must have quadrupled in size, which was no mean feat considering the fact that the Potters were considered a wealthy family. Maybe not quite as wealthy as the Blacks or the Malfoys but they could certainly get by. Most of the investments were making steady rises in profits and those few that had made losses were barely making a dent in the overall profits.

"_As you can see we have taken good care of your assets. Until your son comes of age he can't take control of the accounts and investments so I've been making sure everything is running smoothly until he does. Though I am surprised he even inquired about it."_

Lily scowled. Yet more evidence of Harrys lack of education. It's one thing to hide Harry from fame but what was the motivation behind hiding him from his wealth? She was going to have talks with Albus one of these days, but not before messing with him for a while.

"_It seems no-one saw fit to tell him he even had this account" _ Lily said, keeping her voice even.

Ragnok raised his eyebrows.

"_He was supposed to be informed about his family vault on his 14__th__ birthday. Are you meaning to tell me he is not even aware of the vault? That would certainly explain why he's never asked about it, though by law his guardian should have told him."_

"_His current guardians are muggles so they wouldn't have. What I find annoying is why someone like Dumbledore wouldn't have informed him. It doesn't make sense…" _ she trailed off, lost in her own head again. Truly she hadn't really thought about it before but there were really too many things that had been kept from her son. The vault didn't make any sense whatsoever. Even if the original motivation behind it might have been to stop Harry from turning out like the Malfoys, one look at him from first year would have quashed that notion.

Taking another look at the ledger, she could see that no money had been taken since her death so there was nothing sinister in nature going on so far as money was going. She wasn't going to march over right now and confront Dumbledore about it. She was going to keep her anonymity for as long as possible. Mentally she was really looking forward to the look of shock on certain peoples faces when she reemerged.

Ragnok cleared his throat, shaking her out of her reverie. Lily gave back the ledger and Ragnok banished the documents.

"_That may be the case, but when a wizarding child is raised by muggles, that responsibility falls to the Headmaster of his or her school. As old as he is, I somehow doubt that Albus Dumbledore has simply 'forgot' to mention this. Not only is it a legal requirement, Dumbledore never does anything without some kind of reasoning behind it. It's one of the reason that he's not trusted by as many people as he thinks."_

Lily laughed at that. She liked how candid about people Ragnok could be. He may be down to business most of the time but he was never the one to hide his displeasure at someone and not many people would speak openly against the Headmaster.

"_That he isn't. He's got a lot to answer to."_

"_Do you want to press charges against him? As I said it is technically a legal requirement and you could get him charged with failure to fulfill his duties as headmaster."_

"_No that's fine."_ Lily smiled. A predatory grin spread across her face that was returned swiftly by Ragnok. He knows that look. He'd seen that look on her before. "_I'll deal with him myself. Where would be the fun in just get him a few fines? I may not be quite as as mischievous as my husband but I assure you I can get creative when I need to" _ she finished, the smiled still etched on her face, eyes shining with mirth. Ragnok almost felt sorry for him…almost.

"_I'm sure you can."_ He growled. The evil smile painted on Lilys face remained, her eyes still twinkling.

"_If your happy with your accounts would you like me to take you to your vault now?" _ he asked quickly. Lily nodded.

With that she followed Ragnok out his office, into the tunnels below

The ride down was exhilarating. It had been a long time since she had been on one of the Gringotts shuttle carts. They reminded her of the roller coasters she used to go on when she was a kid. Her sister Petunia had a weak stomach and couldn't go near them but she loved them. They made her feel alive. As the cart, twisted and turned through the different tunnels she couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. The adrenaline was coursing through her system, her heart rate rising. She could feel the excitement flowing through veins like a drug. He red hair flew behind her as the wind caught it. It was now she truly felt alive for the first time she since she was back to the world of the living.

She may have been alive for about 2 hours, but this is what living is, the feeling that comes with it. Without feeling life is meaningless. As the cart kept ducking and diving she let herself enjoy the sensation of being pulled left right and center.

As she got lower the air started to cool. The Potter vault was one of the "older" vaults in existence, meaning that therefore it was lower. In the distance she could hear the sound a Dragons roar.

_We're getting closer, _she thought.

It was a good twenty minutes before the cart started to slow down. It felt strange coming back here, almost like she was trespassing. She knew it was silly but she couldn't help it. After all, this was really James's vault not hers. Most of the riches that lay inside belonged to the Potters and their decedents. She knew she was being irrational and that by marrying him this made it hers too but she couldn't shake the thought. She gave a bitter laugh at that and Ragnok looked at her strangely, though said nothing. It was funny how she had the same attitude to money as her son had.

Getting out the cart, she followed Ragnok to the large stone door, marking the entrance to the vault. They didn't speak a word to each other, simply walking in silence to the vaults entrance. Seeing as we were in the lower depths of Gringotts, the corridoors were dark and ominous, light barely permeating the surroundings. The atmosphere alone was enough to deter thieves or wrongdoers, and that was without taking into account the protections guarding each individual vault.

The long corridor that housed the Potter vault was made of black stone lined with torches. Each one lit automatically in green flame as Lily walked past, filling the area with a soft green glow. As Ragnok stopped in front of the large metal door he gestured towards the middle, where a large circular indent was visible.

"_Place your hand in the circle. The locking mechanism will take a small prick of blood to confirm your identity. Once that's done the door wills simple swing open"_ Ragnok instructed.

"_What would happen if I was someone else?"._ Lily asked, her curious nature winning through.

Ragnok gave a predatory smile.

"_Another needle will come out the door and inject the unsuspecting offender with a large dose of Basilisk venom combined with another poison that we Gobllins designed ourselves that causes the unsuspecting victim to burn from the inside out." He had a wicked gleam in his eye that made Lilys hair shiver. She understood._

"_That way if the happen to have the antidote to one poison, they still have to account for the other, and since it's one of your own design, there is no chance they are likely to have it…very clever" _Lily said approvingly. Gringotts really was the safest place to keep something.

"_Thank you. We do take pride In our security"_

Lily walked slowly to the door. Every other time she had been here it had been James that opened the doors. Now it was her responsibility she could feel the nerves coursing through her like a disease.

Hand raised, she slowly touched her palm to the cold stone and waited for the lock to do it's business. She felt a slight jab as the needle shot out of the stone and then retreated in the blink of an eye. She barely had time to register the slight pain at the tip of her index finger before the stone behind her hand glowed a faint green hue. Seconds later she could hear the sound of locks turning and mechanisms moving.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief and stepped back. She had been accepted. Even though she knew this was her vault she was still scared that something might go wrong for her here. It felt alien without James beside her. Maybe she was always scared and only now, without her husband here did it really registers. It wasn't exactly a hospitable place.

The sound of gear turning stopped and the door swung open, creaking slightly on it's hinges. As the door swung open, light slowly filled the chapter, torches lighting themselves on each wall. No matter how many times she came to this vault the scale of this place always overwhelmed her. Piles and piles of Galleons, Sickles and Knutts rose from the ground in piles so high that they looked like they could touch the sky.

"I'll wait outside. Take your time" Ragnok said before gesturing with his hand.

Lily took a few tentative steps forward, mustering slightly more courage with each step. With each moment the reality of the situation became ever more real. This was it; the start of something…start of what she wasn't quite she but she was determined to find out.

The first thing she did was walk over the to the left hand side of the room. After a only a few minutes of hunting she found what she was looking for. To someone else it would look like just a small wooden box, the kind of thing you would put oddments that you wouldn't need and stuff it in the loft out of site. She guessed that was what it could be viewed as now, seeing as she died. She opened the wooden lid to reveal her old jewelry and personal items, the things that she would never go anywhere without.

The first thing she took out was an old emerald necklace that James had given her for her 20th birthday. It was on a simple gold chain in the shape of a lily flower, the precious green stone gleaming in the middle. She put it on there and then, fingering the pendant absent minded. It was as close as she was going to get to him now.

Blinking away tears, she focused her attention back on the box. Taking out her purse, which had her Gringotts card in she used for muggle purchases, she quickly checked to make sure there was nothing else she needed right now and shrunk the item down, slipping it into her pocket. She then walked over to the piles of money and picked up some Galleons, pouring them into the bottomless purse. She knew she could simply ask the purse to give her the right amount of money when she needed it but she was lazy and she knew she'd want to leave some money around the house in case of emergencies.

A House.

That was the next order of business. It was all very well rescuing Harry from her god awful aunt, she still needed a place for him to stay when he leaves. Ideally it needed to be in a muggle neighborhood but close enough to wizarding civilization for them to not be too cut off. She needed it to be large. Even if Harry was the only person living there, she still wanted to live in a home to last the test of time. She didn't want somewhere to live she wanted a home. She could in theory use one of the Potter mansions but they were never really her homes they were just homes that her husband owned. Home was where he was and he wasn't here.

She would have to create a new home, a new safe haven.

The resolved the first thing she was going to do in the morning was look for an estate agent. She couldn't do it now as much as she wanted to. It was too late in the day.

She was just about to leave when she heard a cough behind her, a strangely familiar voice.

"Hey Lils" the voice said cheerfully

_James? _Her neck snapped round, trying to discern the source of the voice. It sounded so much like…

"Up here…no left a bit. Take the cover off…ah!" the voice exclaimed, as Lily was rifling through her belongings on the left side of her vault, desperately trying to find the source of the voice before she gasped.

There laying against the wall was a painting…James's painting. He still sported his signature smirk just as she remembered it. He wore a leather jacket just like Sirius used to wear when he rode his old bike. She couldn't believe it. How could she forget though? They both had commissioned paintings to be made in the event of their death. It was done for Harry, so he would have a part of his parents with him even after they had passed on. She just never thought she'd ever have to face on of their own paintings, seeing as they only activated after their death.

"Lilyflower it's lovely to see you." He smiled. "I knew something was happening when your painting suddenly stopped talking but I didn't dare to believe…your back here. It's more than I could have dreamed."

"I know. I can hardly believe it myself. It hardly seems real." She replied. Tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't sob. She just left the fall. Sobbing wouldn't do her any good. There were no arms to hold her.

"Are you going to Harry?" he inquired. I could see longing in his face. Even as enchanted paint, he was still James, and he still wanted to be with his son.

"Yes. Tomorrow morning if things work out" she answered back. After a few seconds silence the painting spoke again.

"So…what are you planning to do?" he asked.

So she spent the next half hour or so going through what her plans were now she was back in the land of the living, while at the same time, trying to explain in the simplest way possible, how she was back. They went through everything living arrangements to training. He was shocked at how little he had been taught, both educational and about his family. He promptly asked his wife to change that, not that she needed any motivation.

It was soothing just to hear his voice, even though she knew it wasn't really him. The real him was watching down on her this very second. But that was ok in a way. It served as a reminder that this wasn't a dream for if it were too perfect, it couldn't be real. She then proceeded to talk about menial things that didn't matter like people that Lily was bound to see again now she was hear. They spent a good 20 minutes laughing about Petunia and Vernons reaction when she appeared on their doorstep. She debated about bringing a camera with but decided against it after James said "It would ruin the impact of the moment. You should Pencieve it instead. You and Harry will get a good laugh out of that" That was exactly what she was going to do.

After they had finished talking she shrunk the painting and put in her bag, deciding that if Harry can't have James here in the flesh he should at least meet his painting. It was barely fair but it was the best she could do.

Taking a last look around to make sure she hadn't missed everything, she made her way out of the vault after spending nearly an hour inside. Well, she guessed it was an hour. It was always hard to tell when there was no change in light or temperature. At least the first part of her plan was over. Her trip to Gringotts took a lot longer than she thought it would but it didn't matter. She had all the time in the world.

The trip back to the surface was much like the trip down, the cart moving with incredible speed, ducking in and out of different tunnels. She let herself relax as the cool air blasted into her face. It made her feel free, like the wind was blowing her worries off her skin. It reminded her in a way of the muggle roller coaster rides she used to go on as a kid, back when her sister was someone she could be around and wasn't constantly jealous. Not that she would trade her magic for anything, regardless of how Petunia felt about it.

Before long she was back on the surface giving a short farewell to Ragnok and promising she'll be back soon to ward her new property when she finally bought it.

Phase 2: Buy a house.

There was no point in going to collect Harry without having somewhere for him to live. That would be stupid in the extreme and would be a sure fire way to get discovered quickly; no doubt Dumbledore or another member of the order had put tracking charms on him at some point. No she needed to get a house first.

With that in she left the bank and left the alley into muggle London. It had been a long while since she had ventured into muggle London, even when she was alive since she had been in hiding for over a year, though she soon found a hotel she could stay for a few days while she hunted for somewhere more permanent.

Sitting alone in her room she took out a framed photo she picked up from the vault, a picture of her, James and Harry shortly after her son's birth, and absentmindedly ran her fingers over the picture of Harry.

"I'm coming" she whispered.

"Just a few more days"

When the son arose the next morning, Lily was already downstairs in the dining room drinking a coffee. Breakfast wasn't due to be served for another hour yet she couldn't seem to stay still, her anticipation of the day making her nervous. _It was times like this I wish I was a smoker_ she thought with a chuckle. In between sips she casually read bits and pieces of the latest issue of the Daily Prophet; there were always a few scattered around the alley late at night after everyone had left.

There wasn't much of interest in it mind; the occasional death eater attack and advertisements on various products that were most likely nothing like what they were described as. The stupid newspaper hasn't changed much in the last 100 years let alone the last 15. Always the same problems just worded differently. Taking a another sip of her morning coffee she made a mental list of what she needed to do over the next few months

The first thing she needed to do was the obvious. Buy a house. This house couldn't just be any house though as it had to meet certain criteria before she would consider buying. The first thing she needed was that it had to be in the city. Whereas a Fidelus would be somewhat easier in a rural setting, the sheer number of people that lived in London would essentially hide them in plain sight, making it a lot less likely to be spotted. In the crowded streets of London it is a lot harder to spot someone than it would be in a town such as Hogsmeade or her old home in Godrics Hollow. She also needed the house to have spare rooms. There would come a point where Harry will want his friends over and for that to happen there needed to be enough space. She could certainly afford it so there was no reason why she shouldn't be able to do that. The final thing she wanted was a small garden out the back. It didn't have to be anything special it just had to exist.

The next thing on her mental checklist was collect Harry. She couldn't stop herself from smiling at the look on her sisters face when she arrived on her doorstep. She kept rehearsing to herself what to say when she saw her but nothing seemed to be enough so she decided she was just going to wing it and see what happens. Any nice feeling she had towards that woman stopped when she allowed her husband to use him as his personal punching bag. She was going to regret the day she ever let him near her son. She hadn't decided what to do with Vernon yet but she was certainly not going to let him get away with it. All she knew is that she wasn't going to kill him…which admittedly left a lot of room to maneuver. She was going to give Dudley the benefit of the doubt for the time being as since the Dementor incident he seemed to have learned his lesson.

Then there was the massive fact that she would be seeing her son for the first time in 15 years.

So yes, she was really looking forward to that part of the day.

Next thing on her list of things to do was train him properly. She wasn't expecting miracles she just wanted him to survive this war, and to do that would mean to know more than he did. It was strange that he had such bad teachers because both her and James were pretty clever people. Lily would study and study in school getting Os across the board in almost every subject. James on the other hand didn't seem to even need to try and still managed to get mostly Os and Es. It was mind boggling that Harry seemed to be so average. Not that she loved him any less for it, it was just odd. She was intent on changing that as soon as she could. With the right motivation she knew he could he as good as anyone in his class, even Hermione, who in Lilys own estimation was like a younger version of herself except even more obsessive and even more of a rule nazi. Ron was holding Harry back in a way, his lazy attitude leaking through, not that she could begrudge him at all. He gave Harry a friend when he had none. That alone was enough for her to overlook his faults; at least to a degree.

That was as far as she dared think ahead, as plans were undoubtedly going to change over the course of the year as new developments arose.

For the next half an hour she let herself get lost in her own thoughts, safe in the knowledge that whatever happens today, things finally on the course for the better.

It only took her a few hours to find the perfect house. Call it luck or fate but it was perfect. After going straight to the estate agents from the hotel, she explained to them for the better part of an hour what she wanted and where she wanted to be. After only about ten minutes of looking on their systems they founds the perfect home.

From the outside it didn't look like much; normal house in central London. There were no features the really struck out or anything it just blended in to the street. Perfect for her needs seeing as blending in was pretty much a necessity at this point. It had four bedrooms and with a few extension charms Lily could easily make more if needed. It wasn't too far away from Kings Cross, thus reducing the likelihood of being coughed when getting him to school and this was London, so there were shops within walking distance for her to get normal provisional when needed.

It wasn't the best lit building she had come across. Not exactly Grimwauld Place (she had never been there but Sirius had described it enough times to get a good mental picture), but it certainly could use some lightening up. That's where magic came in. To the average buyer this house would have been a lot of work. The wallpaper was peeling off at the corners, the cigarette stained wallpaper looking old and ruined before her eyes. The carpet was filthy, like it had never been cleaned, it's original color lost in place of a grey coat of muck.

The appliances were not much better. The old kitchen gear not only looked out of day, it was broken almost beyond repair. She made a mental note when she discovered this to go out and buy some basic kitchen ware like ovens and fridges when she had time. The toilets were cracked and damaged too.

All these little details were the main reason why this place was so cheap

And all it took was the wave of a wand.

In an instant the wallpaper straightened out and the stained color receded, the white color it once coming back after years of abuse. The dirt on the carpet just vanished, it's dark blue coloring finally apparent. It probably hadn't been blue for a long time. The stale smell coming from each room was replaced by the smell of fresh linen and with another flick of a wand, a cool breeze was blowing through the house, evicting the old smell like an unruly tenant.

Anything that wasn't clean now was sparklingly so, all traces of dirt gone. As she moved from room to room, she fixed the damaged kitchen gear as best she could, the wiring fusing itself back together. She supposed that would do for the time being. The bathroom was fixed up in a jiffy, the broken bath and toilet fusing itself back together and the times realigning themselves on the walls.

She did a 3 month restoration job in an hour.

She quickly transfigured furniture for the living room and bedrooms, mentally reminding herself to visit a furniture store when she could as well. The transfigurations would last a few weeks at least which was good enough. Her husband James managed to conjure things that lasted for months but unfortunately she didn't have his ridiculously good aptitude for the subject. She had other strengths though.

The last thing she did before leaving the house for Surrey was take out a large framed painting of James and hang it over the main fireplace.

Just as she was turning to leave, a voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Good luck" he said.

Turning to face her husbands painting, she simple gave an unsure smile and a muttered thank you before she left her new home.

When she came back she wouldn't be the only one living there.

The suburban atmosphere of Little Winging did little to ease her fears. The heat from the sun beat down with oppression, the humidity tricking her mind into reaching down for her drink; she had the sense of mind to attach a hip flask to her belt before she went out.

She found herself sitting on the swings at the local part, working up the courage to walk the few streets to the Dursley household. She knew Dudley and his gang hung round here a lot, not that she was worried. She doubted he would recognize her anyway and if he did, he was as petrified of magic as the rest of the family was.

She felt like a coward right now. It was only a few streets. Why couldn't she just walk up there and answer the door? What was she afraid of? Only a few hours she was looking forward to tearing her sister and her whale of a husband a new orifice but now she was barely able to think straight, fear gripping her stomach like a vice. She realized that after all these years she still wanted her sisters approval. _That's stupid_ she told herself. _She made her choice years ago and I made mine._

She also felt scared that Harry wouldn't need her as irrational as that thought was. _Of course he needs me, after all he has those…people to live with. I'm sure the Weasleys are wonderful people but they are not his family and never will be._

_Even if they were I'm his mother. His mother! Saying he doesn't need me is ridiculous everyone needs their mother whether they know it or not. He's been coping, nothing more. Coping damned well considering but still only coping. The only person I can even compare myself to is Sirius and he was a father figure not a mother figure. Pull yourself together woman and grow some balls…figuratively._

_You can do this._

_You can DO this_

_You can DO this!_

After what seemed like an age she forcible removed herself from the swing and walked to her sisters house. It was like her legs were on autopilot and her body was just a passenger, it felt so surreal for her. One thing she noticed as she walked was that nothing had changed in this neighbourhood; the hedges and the gardens were all as immaculate as they always had been years before. She hated the synthetic nature of the town, serving only to put on display how fake and insincere the people are. It was like the souls of the house owners were on show for everyone to see, like a prized puppy in a dog show.

She almost walked straight past 4 Privet Drive, the garden seamlessly blending in with everything else around it. Everything was so unnaturally clean it felt she was looking at a house brochure. Now she was here she could feel the fear coming back but she quashed it down. She needed to present a strong front now. She could burst into tears later. She _would _burst into tears later.

Making her way up the driveway it felt like she was walking in slow motion. Each step was made with a longer pause for the next one. She felt physically ill. She had to remind herself why she was here constantly and let the rage spur her on. The fact that Petunia had systematically ignored Harry as a child and dotted on her bully son Dudley. The fact that Vernon would lash out if he did another remotely magical. The fact he didn't even know his own name till he was 6. The fact that every wrongdoing in the house was blamed on her. The fact that his spirit was broken over and over and over again.

She gave a feral grin as she remembered each of these things. She was going to make them pay for treating her son that way.

When she finally got the front step she knocked on the door as hard as she could before she could stop herself. Hearing the sound of scuttling on the other side of the door, she quickly took off her glamor's and kept her right hand gripped on her wand lightly. Never hurt to be careful.

After what seemed like an age, the sound of a bolt disengaging was heard and the door tentatively opened. It was barely a second before a pair of eyes she recognized widened with fear and the door swung wide open. Petunia looked white as a sheet. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, seemingly trying to find words that just weren't there.

After it was apparent that Petunia wasn't going to start the conversation, Lily decided to start talking.

"What's the matter Tuney? You look like you've seen a ghost."

**Thank you for reading and again sorry for the wait and the bad quality in places. This chapter WILL have an overhaul at some point I can promise that.**

**Thanks yet again. If you have any comments/questions then drop a review or inbox me :)**


	3. Helena

**Another self Beta'd chapter. Once I have a new Beta sorted I will get them to properly Beta this chapter. As of now I did this one myself in a haste to get it out there while I focus on writing the chapter I know you all want to see.**

**I understand that the dialogue part probably isn't the best thing I have ever written. If anyone has any suggestions on how to clean that up please let me know and I'll try and sort it out when I have time.**

Chapter 3

A few seconds after Lily had stepped through the Veil, another woman stepped through, gifted a chance by another fate. Dying before her prime, she had been gifted a chance to return on the condition she write the wrongs of her past life. It was the least she could do. When she came out the other side she was but a mist, a spirit that hung in the air like a wraith, passing through walls like they were just an illusion. Concentrating hard, she focused just like she was taught. She couldn't see for she had no eyes, she could only sense what was around her. It was a very disconcerting feeling. Taking a few seconds, she let her sensed guide her and did what she had been told to by the source, concentrating hard on where she wanted to go and not letting her 'body' take shape. Unlike her predecessor, she couldn't afford to reform in the Department of Mysteries. The was nowhere she could go and she would be trapped until the Aurors came to detail her.

Then she would be taken in and be experimented on, never to see the light of day again. It was hardly a life she wanted for herself.

So she concentrated on a destination. The only place she knew. Hogwarts. Summoning all her energy she could feel her body moving upwards and away from the Ministry of Magic. After a few minutes she finally passed the upper walls of the building and saw daylight, albeit a steadily declining sun. Instantly her wraith like form sped through the sky like a bullet as she concentrated on her destination. She thought of nothing else and let her body speed through the sky. The slightest lapse of concentration and she could reform her body in mid-air and then she'd drop like a stone.

It was nearly midnight before she finally made it to her destination and settled down on the grass outside the school near the Great Lake. She couldn't just walk into the school without a plan…that would be a very bad idea. As soon as she touched ground she could feel what felt like tiny pins attacking each pour of her skin. Looking down at her arms and legs she could see that they were becoming more opaque, the misty smoke they were before now solidifying into actual limbs. Her eyes ears stung terribly, their cells reforming properly to gift her with sight and hearing again. Her legs started to reform as well and she could feel her weight pulling her down. Before she could stop herself she fell to the floor, panting. The pain wouldn't stop for another twenty minutes at least, though for her it felt twenty years. As each cell knitted back together, her body gradually became stronger, even as the pain increased, her entire nervous system was being remade, the slightest breath of wind causing her scream bloody agony.

When the pain finally stopped, she opened her eyes for the first time in a millennium. The first real breath she took she savored like it was fresh honey. The feeling of the wind on her skin was like touching soft velvet. She welcomed the cool air liked it was an old forgotten friend. In a way it was, seeing as she hadn't felt it in years. It felt familiar yet so foreign at the same time. All of a sudden she laughed. It was the first sound that had come from her lips since she had reformed and it sounded like music to her. Sound. She could near the birds in the trees and the whistling of the wind as it bounced off the aged stone of the castle walls. She had made it.

She had actually made it.

In that instant all her pain was forgotten.

The Forbidden Forrest wasn't always forbidden like its namesake suggested. Years ago the darkest thing you would find in the forest was a few normal every day spiders. It wasn't until the first wizarding war came that that all changed. Shadows seemed to become darker as days progressed, the trees themselves more imposing than before. More and more of the forest was claimed by shadow, no light being allowed to permeate the forest floor. Where there were once hundreds of unicorns there were now only a few dozen. Where the centaurs had the run of almost all the forest now they were reduced to only half, for not even they would dare enter the darkest reaches of the forest.

It became even worse when Hagrid inadvertently let Aragog escape the confines of his chest to escape Tom Riddle. Now in the deep recesses of the forest, a huge Acromantula nest dwelled, deadly to any who come across it. No-one dared even go within a mile of the place such was the danger. Aragog himself was harmless for he didn't attack humans. His numerous spawn weren't so picky. During Harrys 2nd year, when he braved the dangers of the nest he only saw what was probably a quarter of the nest and since then, the number of residents had doubled. The place was truly terrifying for anyone who didn't have a death wish.

It was deep within this forest that a young woman was squatting over a lake, pondering her next move. She had done this seemingly impossible and come back from the dead, making a bargain with the source that had to be paid. Failure wasn't an option. She was being given a second chance after 1000 years of death and she would not squander it.

Squatting over the water she cupped the water with her hands and washed her face, letting the cool liquid invigorate her. She had been here for two days, pondering a plan of action. She had not been idle, but her goal was not exactly simple. She needed to get into the castle, find her objective, destroy it, and get out in less than an hour. Any longer than that and she would be spotted. The first problem was the fact that the building was practically a fortress. Voldemort himself would be hard pushed to get inside without help, and even then it would be hard.

The second problem was time. An hour would be plenty of time if the objectives were close to each other but they were far from it. The object she was seeking was on the 7th floor, the highest point in the castle. That would take time to get to by itself. Then there was finding it among everything else in the room. This wasn't a simple classroom where it could just be summoned from whatever draw it was hidden. This was an ancient room that was built when then Founders themselves once lived, and had been in use for hundreds of years. There were probably thousands of artifacts stored among it's confines. Thousands.

And she was looking just one, very specific thing.

The next place she needed to go was on the 3rd floor corridor. There was only one way she was going to destroy this object and unfortunately that meant going into Slytherins chamber. While she knew the monster was already dead it didn't make her feel any less uneasy about the whole thing. This was Salazars territory and he scared her to death even now.

Even after the object was destroyed she still had to escape again and by this point, her presence was sure to be noticed. She doubted that she could do this in an hour, as much as she wanted to and was likely to have to fight her way out. She did not relish that one bit. It wasn't that she was afraid that she would be captured. The chances of being anywhere close to beaten were miniscule. No she would just like avoid conflict all together and save her ire for those who deserved it. She had never dueled to stun once in her life. When she fought, there was no quarter given.

So there lies the rub. She had to figure out a way of getting in and out in less than an hour without getting caught and probably accidentally killing someone and becoming a public enemy for the rest of her life. That was the last thing she wanted; to be brought back to life only to be on the run for most of it.

Waving her hand casually, a small pile of wood she gathered earlier caught alight, and she wandered over to it and sat down. All this planning was giving her a headache. She couldn't help it mind. She was a Ravenclaw through and through and would analyze a situation until no question was unanswered. She closed her eyes, feeling the area around her with her magic and zeroed in on a couple of rabbits that were feeding a few hundred yards away

"Got ya" she muttered before breaking their necks and summoning the bodies to her. She had been living off rabbits and other small creatures for days now and while she was getting rather tired of it, she kept up her strength enough to live rather comfortably. She already used her aura to scare off the cacophony of monsters and dark creatures that roamed the forest floor and the moons glow entering the clearing served to soothe her. She was perhaps the safest being in the entire forest at this moment.

While she gutted and skinned the animals she let her mind wander over to how she came to this point in her life. It was 1000 years ago when her feet last touched earth, in the outskirts of the Albanian Forrest. She had just finished hiding her mother's prized possession, her beautiful diadem before her long time admirer, the Roland Garlow cornered her, though most people these days refer to him as 'The Bloody Baron'. He had never meant to kill her. She had forgiven him long ago, though that didn't make her any less bitter about it. She was young, a girl of barely 17 her life cut well before it's prime.

That was another problem she faced. She was a prodigy, well beyond anyone else her age could have hoped to be. She was top of her year, out performing every student she met. She knew so many different curses and charms that a lot of teachers didn't bother testing her anymore, just assuming she already knew it. Her mind was one of her greatest assets.

But she was still only 16 years old. She had knowledge well beyond anyone else her age but she could still not hope to match a wizard such as Dumbledore of the fabled Lord Voldemort. She was a child at the end of the day, albeit a very gifted one and she had to break into one of the most secure schools in the world.

She was Helena Ravenclaw and she needed an advantage.

Then it came to her. It was so glaringly obvious that it was a wonder that she had never thought about it before. It was hellishly risky but what wasn't this this day and age when it came to warfare? The own Ghost had been a resident in the school since only a few months after her death. Over the last 1000 years it had attained the knowledge of each one of the thousands of students that walked its halls. She was perhaps the most ignored out of all the ghosts. Her own quiet demeanour letting her blend into the background. This would also mean she would know more than just spells.

She would know secrets.

Now hurriedly skewing a rabbit on a spit and setting it to cook over the fire, she began to formulate a plan after days of waiting. The spell that she was going to try and perform was risky at the best of times, downright dangerous at the worst. She only hoped that it worked, though if she didn't try then why was she back here in the first place?

After about twenty minutes she took the Rabbit off the fire and began to eat, being careful not to rush. Her body was itching to move though she knew not to rush around. It would not do good to walk through the castles defenses and be stopped by a simple case of heartburn. That would be so ridiculous it wouldn't even be funny. While she was eating she went over her overall plan once more, making sure there were no holes in it.

Satisfied that she had thought of everything she got, dusted herself and started to walk herself to the castle. Looking into the Lake at her reflection she was once again shocked by how youthful she looked. It had been a long time since she had viewed herself as a teenager. Perhaps if she ever saw herself that way in the first place. Her mother had never let her be a teenager.

_No! This is not the time to get sentimental. You can berate her lack of mothering skills later. Now I have a job to do_.

She mentally chastised herself. There was to be no distractions now. It was do or die now.

Turning away from the moonlit reflection of the pond, she started walking towards the school, letting her senses guide her direction. Any time she felt like she was losing her bearings she would wave her wand in the air and cast 'Procuracio Ut Hogwarts'. With that an arrow made of smoke will point in the relevant direction and float next to the caster as long as the he or she needed it. It was a useful spell that had since been overtaken by the 'Point Me" spell but better in the way where it only had to be cast once and will continue to direct the caster for as long as they wanted it to.

It only took about an hour for her to exist the Forest and to come face to face with her old School.

Hogwarts

The mere name sent shivers of anticipation up her spine. This was her mother's Dynasty, her greatest achievement, standing proud over a thousand years since its erection. As much as she had had problems with her mother she couldn't deny the legacy she had left behind was impressive. They had reconciled in death anyway, water put under the bridge and all transgressions forgiven. They had both wronged each other and had both apologized profusely. It was done now and nothing could change it. Now without the animosity that she had grew up with, she could truly appreciate the majesty of the building her mother had helped to create. Sure the other Founders had helped but her mother was the real architect behind this building It was a work of art and had molded the lives of witches and wizards across the United Kingdom for generations. It was no mean feat and should never be ignored.

The Stones have aged with time but the wonder they incited had not diminished one bit.

The soft glow of the full moon illuminated each of the towers, making the castle look like it was emitting its own light. It was truly beautiful to look at, it brought back many memories of her time there. Some good, some bad. No time for Nostalgia though and she told herself to press on.

She was already within the wards of Hogwarts when her body reconstituted and she regained her form. In theory she could have reappeared within the castle walls themselves but then she would have no time to prepare and she would have almost certainly failed. At least some fore planning was needed. Taking measured steps to the front gates, she whipped out her wand and waved it at the doors. It wasn't an incantation exactly, more of a 'pass-code' that allowed access. She doubted Dumbledore himself knew about it and was proved right when the large metal door swung open on its hinges to reveal the Great Hall.

The time was now running. She had an hour.

The door swung closed again behind her as all the torches on the walls lit themselves, the warm glow of light that was normally so comforting now feeling a little ominous in the silence of the hall. Each step she made felt so loud on the stone floor that it almost made her jump more than once. As she kept her pace to the seventh floor the paintings looked on at her with wide eyes to which she put a finger to her mouth. They got the message. Whatever happened tonight her secret was safe for time being. No-one would dare betray Rowena Ravenclaws daughter, as momentous as her resurrection was. Others didn't recognize her, not used to seeing her in a non-ghostly form

Occasionally she would get a question but other than that she was left well alone, her penchant for not talking unless necessary well known among most of the Hogwarts paintings. Some of them even knew her in her alive days and smiled at her warmly as she strode past. It took her quite a bit of time to finally make it to the fifth floor, thanks in no small part to the unpredictability. This slight detour was either a masterstroke or suicide. She would soon know.

The only thing that could be heard now was the taps of her feet, and the whistling from the wind outside. Paintings whispered between themselves as she passed but nothing more, news of her arrival already reaching this part of the castle. It wasn't long before she arrived at her destination.

And it was the strangest feeling she had ever had.

Floating only a few feet from where she was her own ghost staring back in curiosity, her once bright eyes colorless against the dim light of the torches. It was like looking into a mirror that could think for itself, her graceful form floating towards her.

"I know what you are about to do. I warn you it will only cause you pain" the ghost said, looking down at her flesh and blood form with interest.

"What choice do I have? I didn't come into this world to watch it burn again. You have the knowledge of a thousand years and the key to a thousand secrets. Your me anyway, so you know already why I must do this"

"Ah but am I really? The person I am today is just a hollow representation of what I once was. You have no idea what horrors I have seen…what horrors I have caused. It will drive you mad. Walk away now and you will be spared from it but go on at your own risk for not even I know the limits of what your soul can take. I bear pain like you have never seen". Helena grew curious at this. What could she have possibly done that could cause such bitter anger. She could feel the carefully disguised malice in her own words, her own self hatred threatening to spill. For a second she thought that maybe she had made a mistake and that she would run but then she remembered the cost of running.

Failure.

And Ravenclaws don't fail. The only win.

"Whatever price that must be paid will be paid. While I cannot fully understand the pain that you speak, it is a risk that must be taken for the good of our world. I am one woman in the face of hundreds born of evil, and if my sanity is a price I must pay then so be it. There is nothing you can say that will change my mind and we're wasting time."

The ghost bowed her head solemnly, her ghostly face looking sad and thoughtful. Truthfully Helena was growing more nervous by the second but she held her head as high as she could and stare back unflinchingly at ghost Helena.

"Very well…begin when you are ready" she said gravely.

Helena nodded back then raised her wand. performing the spell in hushed whispers as she moved it in intricate patterns in the air.

"_Phasmatis of meus somes , Phasmatis of meus mens , Fio secui mei ut utriusque scientia quod animus... Servo quis no vos , vestri, permissum mihi animadverto in depths of vestri animus quod sentio panton ut vos ago per."_

She encanted slowly in Latin, waving her waned in the ghosts direction, drawing runes in the air that seemed to float around her ghost who just stood there with her eyes closed. The air around her seemed to pick up, casting a spiral around the pair. The wind in the narrow corridor whistled loudly and a few times Helena had to raise her voice to make she she was saying the right incantation. This was not something that could be done silently.

For a while it seemed like nothing was happening but a bit of light wind and some floating runes but then it started to happen.

The ghostly apparition that was once the Grey Lady started to break down, almost breaking away like a sand in the wind, the white tendrils of ghost gravitated towards Helenas body and started to envelop her, caging her in from all sides. She carried on repeating the incantation as this happened, making sure that the job was finished. It didn't take long; what was once a thousand year old ghost was reduced to an ethereal cloud in minutes, her body evaporating like water. Her apparition was now swirling around the real Helena like a cyclone, picking up more and more pace as time went on. When it was obvious the first part of the spell was done she lowered her wand and the cloud barreled into her, entering her body any way it could.

Instantly she dropped to the floor in pain.

Her mind was on fire. Within seconds images run through her head like a video real, a thousand years of knowledge pouring through her. She could feel every bit of emotion her ghost had felt in it's 'lifetime'. All the pain, all the joy, all at once, like each emotion was conflicting against each other. She suddenly knew thousands of different spells that she didn't know existed, invented over a different eras. The pain of all this sudden knowledge was threatening to split her apart. She could barely process the images she was seeing for as soon as one finished, another began and she had another thing to ponder. She knew every corridor, every forgotten classroom and every hidden passage.

As more and more information came to her mind it was almost becoming too much for her. She knew this would hurt but like this. It was as if she was a computer that was being forced more information that it had space for. _Wait a minute computer? How did I know that?_ As soon as the thought came she got an image in her head of a group of muggleborn first years talking about technology. More and more information flooded through her like a torrent.

And then it came.

She suddenly felt a memory come through stronger like any other and her mouth twisted in revulsion. It was 50 years ago and Tom Riddle was in school asking about her mothers Diadem. She listened to him, noting how kind he was and that he appeared to understand. It was like she had found a friend she could sympathize with at the time and now all she felt was anger.

She could feel the hatred gripping her veins like vices. The more she thought of what she had done she more sick she became of herself. Her mothers greatest legacy ruined by her own naivety. She had tainted the very memory of her by that act alone and would never forgive herself for it. More memories of that day flooded though her and she could taste the bile in her stomach as her fury flowed through her. She hated Riddle with everything she had and nothing could stem that feeling.

She now understood what her ghost had meant by bearing the pain. This was beyond pain. She wanted retribution and revenge. As her mind flashed through more memories she became more and more sickened? What the hell had she done? She had essentially aided the most evil wizard of all time in his search for everlasting life. He was an aberration that destroyed everything that wizards stood for. He didn't stand for anything, he just destroyed, pretending to believe in a cause that in itself was self destructing. Even those born in her own time knew blood purity was a wasted idea, since you would get to a point where the only purebloods left would be your own family and even then most would be Squibs.

Yet even if he believed in that he would believe in only thing Voldemort wanted was to be alive, a consummate survivor that killed muggles because he thought they were beneath him, a child that was so starved of love he couldn't comprehend it as an emotion strong enough to be worth having.

Eventually the memories started to slow and the headache lessened slightly. She could feel that she was now nearing the end and tried to get up off the stone floor. When she opened her eyes again she noticed her eyes were bleary and when she wiped her eyes she noticed the wet feeling of tears against her skin. She hadn't even noticed she had been crying. She tried unclench her hands but she found that she couldn't her anger not leaving her body.

Taking a deep breath she started to walk back down the hall, trying to get her mind back on the task even as more and more memories rushed through her mind. It felt both painful and exhilarating at the same time, as years of magical knowledge flowed through her. She smiled to herself as she walked, knowing in her mind she was now probably the smartest person in the world, and she hadn't even finished processing the information.

As she strode past more paintings on her way to the seventh floor she moved with a more distinct sense of purpose, confidence radiating off her in waves. It was the first time since she had came back that she felt that winning was possible.

The memories she had received also served to remind her _why_.

With every flash of the horror that Voldemort caused, gave her another reason to succeed. It wasn't just Voldemort that she could feel enmity. There seemed to be hundreds of things wrong with magical Britain in her eyes. She would almost go as far to say that the current ministry of magic and it's methods are exactly the reason why people like Tom Riddle are allowed to exist. In her day he would have been stopped before he would even have been considered a problem.

It was disgusting.

Before long she arrived at the Blank wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabus the Barby and started pacing in front of the blank wall while muttering under her breath.

"I want the room where all this are hidden, and where lost things are found" she stated clearly as she paced.

On the third pass a door materialized in the wall signalling the entrance of the Room Of Requirement.

Wasting no time she grasped the handle and entered the room, not even taking time to close the door behind had barely moved 2 paces before she lit the end of her wand and started walking.

She gasped at what she was seeing. In front of her was what appeared like a maze of objects, some piled high to the ceiling. It was like a magical jumpyard of sorts, numerous objects littered around like scrap.

There were a myriad of different items: books, scales, broomsticks, sneakoscopes , fake wands, Zonkos products, quills, inkpots, jewelry, wigs, confectionery, hundreds of different dark objects. If someone really took the time to look around here she was sure they could find pretty much anything they wanted. She even thought spotted a few of her mothers tomes lying around, though she couldn't tell for sure as they were covered in dust from the years they had been kept in the room.

She moved as quickly as she could through the maze, looking for her mothers diadem. Thinking of what it was now horrified her. Even herself in her new found wisdom and knowledge couldn't fathom the magic that was used to create it. It was her mothers greatest secret, her greatest work.

And now she was going to destroy it.

What a waste. And it was all her fault.

Moving on, she kept her wand with her, scanning the shelves for her quarry. Even with her new found memories, she still wasn't present for when Riddle hid the diadem and had to search the old fashioned way. As she moved, she cast her senses around her, feeling the magic emanating from each object. She would know when she found the Horcrux.

Turning another corner she came to a large cabinet and stopped. She could feel it in the air, Tom Riddles darkness poisoning the immediate area with a magical toxicity that made the hairs on her neck stand on end. Using magic as her guide she passed the cabinet and stood in front of a marble bust and on it's head was adorned a silver tiara encrusted with a large sapphire in its sender.

She had never seen something some beautiful in her life. Just seeing it's elegant form stired up memories of her childhood and school days, before the relationship with her parents turned so sour.

As she stepped closer she could feel the evil humming from the diadem in waves and she felt the inexplicable urge to put the old piece of jewellry on. It felt like a need, like if she wore it she would be a conduit for infinite knowledge and that she could shape the world for the better. Her arms slowly raised in front of her, reaching for the metal. She was just about the touch it when she hesitated for a second.

_What am I doing? This is evil? I'm being tricked by the very thing I sought to destroy! I can feel it pulling me in. No! I will not be a victim of my own desires. This abomination needs to be destroyed. I can't risk taking this downstairs I doubt I could make it halfway down the staircase before I touched the cursed object. No I have to destroy right now._ Her hand lowered and she raised her wand, a look of pure loathing in her eyes. For a second the seemed to turn white as raw magic crackled from them like tiny stars.

"Abyssus incendia!" she roared, directing all her anger at the horcrux.

White hot flames spouted from the end of her wand and hit the diadem in full force knocking it into the air. The flames materialized into a large Phoenix and followed it into the air before colliding with it before it landed, blasting it apart. As the ancient object disintegrated, a black shroud escaped the metal and zipped into the air, it's dark mist circling the flames caused by Helenas fiendfyre. It eyed her for a split second before roaring loudly and charging at Helena.

In seconds she whipped round her wand controlling the fire and used it to create a wall in front of her, a split second before Voldemorts spirit was about to attack her. She was greeted by a Hellish scream as the last vestiges of the Horcrux were destroyed by the Fiendfyre. It took all her concentration to keep the flames from spinning out of control. The phoenix form within the fire merged back in with the main flames and Helena used all her willpower to keep it together.

This was one of the reasons she hated using Fiendfyre. It was almost uncontrollable once it had been started. The flames circled her, destroying everything it touched. The Vanishing cabinet had already turned to ash and one of the larger piles of lost items was already ablaze, it's contest now nothing more than a smoking mess of twisted metal. It was quickly becoming out of hand and Helena was starting to become desperate.

It was the one of her new memories saved her life.

Waving her wand in the air she silently cast a spell, as she was afraid opening her mouth due to the heat.

"_Aufero aer" _she thought as she waved her wand. The flames instantly died down as the charm did its job. The charm itself was a vacuum charm that removed all the air from the vicinity. Without fuel the fire immediately dissipated. The immediate area was ruined. There was literally nothing left of the place, the fire destroying almost everything. It was a shame for so much old knowledge to go to waste but there was no choice. Finding the Basilisk would have taken too long and that left only one way of destroying the Horcrux.

Wasting no time she summoned the ruined diadem and strode out the room, wasting no time as she moved.

"Tempus" she muttered as she moved and the time shimmered in front of her.

"Damnit!"

It had been nearly an hour.

In the back of her mind she knew that she wasn't going to do it all within an hour. It was a dream that she used as a motivation to get the job done. Now she was sure to have to fight her way out. Any hopes of a peaceful mission were now gone.

Right on que, as she neared the bottom of the stairs close to the Great Hall she heard the sound of voices.

"-but there is no sign of forced entry maybe this is just a false alarm" she heard a female voice say.

"No someone is definitely here. Just look at the Paintings. The were awake before we arrived...and the alarms never lie. Tonks, go with Dawlish and Kingsley and take the Grand Staircase to the 2nd floor. Make sure you make sure each floor is clean before moving up to the next one." The voice sounded rough and low, some of the words almost being growled out.

"Remus and I will scale check the perimeter and then proceed to move up to the third floor. Keep your eyes and ears open and remember! Constant Vigilance!" the voice boomed before she heard the sound of footsteps leading in different directions.

She knew she had to make a decision then. Any moment now a three aurors would be making their way up the steps and she would be seen. There was no point in Dissillusioning herself, as she was pretty sure the man she had heard earlier was the infamous Madeye Moody, an auror she had looked down on from above with much admiration. He was probably one of the only people on this planet today that was unafraid to play a little dirty to win a battle. He was hard as nails and wouldn't flinch in a second and more importantly, he had a magical eye that could see through any spell she cast in moments. She was backed in a corner.

She could either back away and use one of the secret passages or fight her way out front door. While it appears that decision was an easy one, she had no way of knowing who else was in the castle. All she knew is there were 5 aurors downstairs and that felt too easy. There was no way that in the event that someone had breached the castle they were send only 5 witches and wizards to check out the disturbance. Hogwarts was a fortress and anything that could get through it's numerous wards and defenses were to to be treated with respect. No no, she was not buying it that they would send only 5. Using her magic, she cast her senses around her, trying to pick up on any lifeforms around her. In a few minutes she found what she wanted, or rather, what she didn't want but in her gut knew was there, another group of wizards 3 floors above her rapidly moving down.

She had no choice, she had to go on.

Keeping her wand out she walked down the steps confidently, no longer caring whether she made noise or not. This ship had sailed for that. If only Madeye Moody wasn't here, then she could just make herself invisible and walk out the front door. Oh well, least she could get in a bit of dueling practice before she was put in any real life or death situation, silver linings and all that. Swiftly moving down the stairs she kept her eyes and ears open, hoping to catch any sign of movement in the dim lighting.

"Did you hear that? It's coming from the stairs". Helena smirked to herself under her hood.

_It's showtime_ she thought.

Making sure her hood was firmly up, she walked confidently down the stairs, not even breaking stride when the warning came

"Come out and put your wand on the ground. We know your there. You are surrounded you may as well come quietly It's up to you" came the sound of Kingsleys low tones. The sound of footsteps, it seemed they had set up shop at the bottom of the stairs and were just going to wait for her to come to them. This suited her fine.

As she rounded the corner she was greeted by a sight she fully expected; 3 aurors fanned out at the bottom of the stairs, wands drawn and pointing in direction.

"I said put your wand on the floor" he said again, using a his tone of authority to full effect.

"Now why would I do that?" She smiled, not making any effort to move. "I'm done here anyway I was just leaving"

Kingsley arched his eyebrow but said didn't comment.

"You broke in to a building that is regarded as impregnable. We still need to take you in" he said deadpanned, though Helena couldn't help herself from laughing at his words.

"I walked in through the front gate I didn't 'break in' as you put it. As for taking me in. The chances of that happening are...small at most" she arched her eyebrow though the wizards before her couldn't see past her hood.

"Last warning miss-"

"Miss?" she laughed. "Really?"

"-put your wand on the ground and step away" Kingsley Shacklebolt commanded, eyes narrowing.

"My mother always said I was was a trouble maker. It was one of the best complements she could have ever given me" with that she flicked her wand up at speed and sent a stunner towards Kingsley. He barely had time to put up a shield before Helena sent another curse at him, this time a cutting curse which was quickly followed up by a bludgener. He side stepped the first and blocked the other with a hastily erected shield. He tried to reply with a bone breaker but it was intercepted in middair by a stunner before he was put back on the defensive again with two quickly deployed stunners.

So far only 2 seconds had passed

It was at this point that the other 2 aurors finally realized what was happening and joined the fight. Tonks fired two quick stunners at Helena which she sidestepped easily before catching a cutting curse that was sent by Dawlish with his shield. Kingsley then tried to rapidly fire a string of curses to catch Helena off balance. She dropped to low to the ground to dodge two of them while casting _Pondero Contego _on the last which sent the curse back to it's casted, catching him completely unawares and blasting him across the hallway.

The other two assailants redoubled their efforts, determined to overcome their target, sweet was dripping off them in buckets as they fired curse after the curse at the seemingly impossible opponent. Helena wasn't even trying. She was toying with her prey now, exhilarated by the fight.

"Offensus Undo!" she yelled after a few minutes, sending a shock-wave through the hall that blasted Tonks and Dawlish back. The hit the wall behind them hard but were otherwise conscious.

"Do we really have to do this? I was just leaving anyway. As much as I can admire your piss poor attempts to capture me, it really is a waste of your time. Someone could get hurt soon." Helena said. It was customary in her time to offer her opponents a lifeline if it was obvious they were outmatched. Hardly anyone ever took the offer, it was just politeness at the day.

"We have our orders. Even if I wanted to let you leave I can't. It's more than my jobs worth."

"She's right. We can't lea-"

"What are you doing Dawlish! Capture her so we can go home!" a rough voice echoed from the hallway.

_Mad-eye _she smiled. Things were about to get interesting. _He must have heard the commotion._ No sooner had he become visible had he started firing curses with abandon, quickly followed by Remus Lupin behind him. On the other side of the hallway, two more aurors she didn't recognized appeared and started firing curses.

_This about to get REALLY interesting_ she thought.

The air became alit with the glow of spell fire. At any one time there must have been three of four spells heading for Helena, most of which she easily dodged and the rest caught on her shield. Occasionally she would deflect a curse back but she didn't use that tactic often, trying to keep her opponents off balance. She moved around the spellfire like a dancer, gracefully dodging while at the same time returning fire with her own brand of curses.

_Pulsus! *dodge* Glacies Pluvia! Pulsus! Stupefy *dodge* *dodge* Expelliarmus! Incarcerus! *dodge* Offensus Undo!_

She didn't let herself stop moving, even as the shock-wave curse was fired again she used the few seconds advantage she had to move forward into the hall and make ground to the Great Hall. She had only just made it down the stairs before Mad-eye was up and firing curses again.

"Crucio! Crucio Bombarda" he yelled

"Quietus Veneficus!" Helena shouted in response just as the Unforgivables were about to strike her. The spells seemed to evaporate in the air in front of her . "_Amplitudo" _she quickly cast to stop the Blasting curse before it hit.

By now the others were already and were back in the fight. Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe they thought they were getting the upper hand. Either way, none of them seemed to notice that Helena was gradually edging her way towards the Great Hall, yard by yard. Her movements were so graceful and so deliberate that anyone watching would think this was a choreographed dance routine or an exercise. She moved seamlessly from move to move with a smile on her face, barely moving her lips. The only time she over spoke a spell out loud was when using an advanced shield, otherwise she was completely mute.

Spells flew at such a speed that any onlooker would find it hard to keep track of. It would certainly have been hard to believe that it was a single witch that was taking this onslaught as if it was nothing. It was times like these which she pitied the modern educational system. This was too easy for her. Way too easy.

Even taking into account that her mentor had been the most powerful witch of her age, she shouldn't find finding it this simple. She barely had to try. She looked at each witch and wizard before her and could tell them which curse they were about to fire before they did. She could even tell where they were aiming, and that was without using Legilimency at all. She was finding them so predictable that she didn't even bother using Legilimency, instead just reacting to their movements and making steady ground while doing so.

She was happy to see that her reactions hadn't dampened with her death. She was just as fast and just as fluid as she had been during life. The only thing missing was practice but that would come in time. She had her mission after all.

It had taken her only 6 minutes to reach the Great Hall. She had positioned herself in a way where all her opponents were directly in front of her. Three more had joined the fight, having heard the fighting from the upper floors and come down to help. It was now 9 vs 1 and Helena had to more faster and faster to keep up with the torrent of curses heading her way. Occasionally Mad-eye would send a Crucia or an Imperio her way and she would intercept it with a _Quietus Veneficus,_ neutralizing the magic behind the curse and rendering it harmless. She was not completely on the defensive though, and even with 9 different assailants bombarding her constantly, trying to break her shields, she still found time to launch her own spells

_Stupefy *dodge * *dodge* Incendio! Diffindo Verbaro! Sectumsempra! Diffindo! Confringo *Dodge* Dodge* *Dodge* Bombarda! Protego! Protego! Protego! Consula Contego! *Dodge* *Dodge* Protego! Glacies Lancae! Pulsus! Contego! *Dodge Crucio! Incendio Verbaro!_

Her curses became more and more frantic, the lethicity of her repotoire increasing, the speed of their casting almost inhuman. She was now bordering on four to five spells a second, her wand moving from one spell to the next without pause. She wasn't even thinking about what she was casting, she was simply letting her instinct guide her. Her vast knowledge meant that she didn't need to think, she just _knew_ what to do. It was frightening and exhilarating at the same time. If this was how she could fight against people that didn't pose a real threat to her, how would she fight when faced with a real challenge

She was done playing games and had had her fun. There was no room for error now and she hasted her move to the front doors. As the last spell left her wand an enormous whip of fire flew from the tip of her wand and lashed through the air. As it touched the floor it created a trail of fire where the magical flames touched ground. Shortly after she used the trail of fire to intercept a few stunners, she swung the fire whip though the line of opponents before her and as they hit the deck ended the fight completely by wandlessly summoning all their wands while they were distracted.

Still keeping the fire whip spell casted, she used the flames to quickly draw a line in the floor, creating a wall of fire that separated her from the aurors who were trying to apprehend her. Not missing a beat, she dispelled the whip and cut her palm, using her wand to spit the blood into the flames before it could drip onto the floor.

"Cruor Tutela" muttered as the warm blood touched the flames. Instantly they changed colour to an emerald green, creating an impenetrable shield that only she could pass. It was old blood magic at it's most powerful. It was at this moment she finally took a breath to steady herself.

Bodies were now getting up from the floor facing her through the flames. Mad-eye looked like he about to charge through the flames then obviously thought better of it. He could feel the heat from where he was standing and he wasn't even close to the fire. Groggily dusting himself of he finally spoke with a scowl, his usually alert eyes mixed with curiosity.

"Who...who are you?" he asked, still panting from his earlier exertion.

Helena smiled again and drew back her hood finally. Her cloak had long been charmed to keep it's hood down even in battle. It was only on command that it receded to show the face behind the wand.

Her audience gasped in surprise when they saw her face

"Who am I? That is a hard question to answer. You of all people know how information can be dangerous. Let's just say for now that I hate Voldemort as much as anyone else in this room" she said evenly, ignoring the gasps from a few of the witches and wizards she was addressing.

"Your...your a child! I don't believe it your a bloody child" Tonks exclaimed in surprise at her appearance.

"Excuse me I'm 17! I'm hardly a snotty nose first year and technically by todays laws, of age" Helena replied though with a hint of amusement in her voice. She figured she was going to get a lot of this now she was back. She hardly looked her 1000 years did she?

"six-...your 17 years old? I don't know any 16 year old that could fight like you did. Where were you taught?"

"Here...like everyone else in Britain" she replied.

"I taught here a few years ago I can know you were not in my class. I'm sure I would have remembered" said Lupin scratching his head. He was obviously trying to remember her face but was coming up blank. It was times like these she remembered how much she liked toying with people.

"You wouldn't have. I blend in quite well"

"That or your lying" said Moody accusingly.

"I don't lie Mad-eye I just don't say more than you need to hear" his eyes arches slightly at the use of his nickname. Obviously this girl knew who he was, though that didn't surprise him too much. A lot of people knew who he was due to his efforts in the last war and with the Order. The debacle last year with his doppelganger didn't do much to diminish his infamy either.

"Why are you here?" an auror she didn't recognize spoke in. She had blonde hair and a round face, her. Blood was pouring from her midfrift and she could barely stand up.

"Oh sorry" she said apologetically before whipping out Vigoratus Vomica Malum" she said lazily and she flicked he wand at her injuries before anyone could react. Instantly her wounds closed and she looked slightly less pale.

"What did you just do!" Demanded a young female auror with dark hair, looking slightly panicked

"Well she wasn't healing by herself was she. That was a rare curse I seriously doubt anyone here would know how to heal it. She would have been dead by the end of our conversation"

She visibly relaxed after hearing this though Mad-Eye clearly wasn't happy.

"That was dark magic...you were using dark curses on us! You'll go to Azkaban for this!" Moody growled clearly angry.

"And you using the Cruciatus on me wasn't dark magic? In a battle there is no light or dark there is only winning or losing. You know this. In fact you preach this often don't you? In the grand scheme of things I think I was quite forgiving " she said darkly. _What a hypocrite_ she thought to herself. _I've probably hurt his pride to be honest_ she thought. _3 of his best Aurors made to look like toy soldiers...can't be good for his ego_.

"You arrogant-"

"Haha arrogant you say? I wasn't even trying a few minutes ago it was almost a training exercise. You magicals these days don't have any idea how to fight, you just bludgeon people with curses until they fall or you do. You don't move with any speed of grace, you just attack like a wild animal. It's pathetic how far standards have fallen. Even the spells you use lack creativity. Over 70% of the spells you sent my war were stunners! Stunners! There are dozens of ways to incapacitate someone yet you chose perhaps the easiest one to defend against and even then half of them didn't even hit me. I'm not arrogant by any means but if this is the best the Auror department has to come up with then there is no wonder that Voldemort is winning."

She inwardly cringed at the way she constructed that sentence. "_These days?" I'm trying to pass off as a 17 year old and I say "these days"? The only people allowed to utter those words are people over 50 and even then it makes them sound older than they are. Hopefully they won't notice._

"How-" he looked enraged at this point but Helena cut him off before he could build up any steam. She didn't want to give them an millisecond to figure her blunder. Her ploy instantly worked and the conversation shifted yet again

"As for the original question I am here because I needed to be. In fact, there is no other place I could be under the circumstances. Needless to say I no longer need to be here...at least not for a while...put your wand away Moody, any spell you cast won't make it though the fire, the blood magic won't allow anything to pass unless it's casted by me"

"Blood magic? That's illegal!" said Dawlish who still had his wand out though was too tired to do anything but shakily raise it slightly from the floor.

"Really? Well that's odd considering it's blood magic that's been keeping your 'savior' safe for the last 14 years. Funny how double standards work in the modern world isn't it?" she said flippantly and watched as Lupin paled slightly. Evidently she wasn't supposed to know that. _I am a naughty girl aren't I?_

"How did you-"

"I don't think you want that conversation here do you?". Remus looked like he was about to speak but then decided better of it. Too many people knew about the blood wards as it was

"What do you mean" Inquired one of the aurors, looking slightly confused.

"It's not important. We are getting wildly off topic don't you think?

"Lupin?" growled Moody, clearly frustrated. He was a good auror but his people skills were certainly lacking.

"I made an unbreakable oath to Dumbledore Alastor. I'm sorry I can't tell you more and even if I could I wouldn't want to. He has too many enemies after his blood already. It's best if some things stay unknown"

Moody looked like he wanted to argue but he quickly shut up though not before letting out a grumbled "Fine".

"Your not going to tell us why you're in the castle are you?

"I already have haven't I? I am here because I am needed nothing more nothing less. I could tell you more but it's best you don't know all the details, for both your safety and the safety and that other others"

"Stop speaking in riddles girl!" Shouted Moody. He was going to continue but was promptly cut off.

"When I start, I will soon stop, but right now I'm simply answering the questions that you ask. Your not really in a position to be demanding answers are you. You lost. Be happy that I'm answering you at all I could easily walk out you know" she said, glaring at the man who dared interrupt her

"That is where you are wrong. The castle is in lock down. There is no way in or out for you now. It would take more magic than even Dumbledore to open the front gates. We may have...lost-" he grimaced like this was hard from the grizzled auror to admit.

"-the battle but you aren't leaving. It would take a small army to knock down those doors" he seemed to take great pleasure out of those words, like a predator that had backed it's prey into a corner.

Helena just smile sweetly before replying, talking in a sickly sweet voice that would make even Delores Umbridge proud.

"Why would I use magic when I can just ask nicely?" she said before turning to face the door.

"Open!" She commanded. The effects were instantaneous. The moment the word left her lips, the gates before her recognized her status as the Ravenclaw heir and obeyed. Her authority in the school over ruled even that of the Headmaster.

As iron bars and locks disengaged and the gate slowly swung open, she turned to face her shocked audience. Obviously they were not expecting that.

"It's been a pleasure talking but I must now take my leave. I will leave you with this parting piece of advice. It's not entirely out the realms of possibility that Voldemort might well have a spy in this school this year. Be alert and trust no-one without a vow of loyalty first...oh and someone should wake up the dark skinned auror I stunned earlier...I though he's imbedded in the wall in the main corridor. Lastly but not least, you should check Private Drive. You may find an interesting surprise there...or not. It guess it depends on your point of view doesn't it" She said mysteriously.

Her audience paled at her last but before they could reply she cut in and gave a quick bow.

"Goodbye." She said mockingly, as she turned away to walk through the open doors, though she did briefly pause to call over her shoulder.

"I'll be seeing you soon"

"Wait! what did you mean about-!"

She never heard the end that sentence as the large metal doors closed with a clang behind her, leaving only the sounds of the evening wind. Taking a deep breath she walked back towards the safety of the forest, safe in the knowledge that she had gotten what she came for. So much for not going on the run. _Perhaps I could hide instead_ she thought _After all the no-one goes in the Forbidden Forest._Another idea formed in her head. She now had a base of operations to use to plan her Horcrux hunt. After all who would look for her in a place where no human ever goes? The Forest was vast and expansive, and she could hide almost anywhere. Now she had destroyed the first Horcrux the rest didn't feel like such a giant task anymore.

_I'm coming Tom, and I won't stop until you've been so thoroughly destroyed that not even ashes remain._

**There it is, Helena Ravenclaws introductory chapter. In case your wondering why her demeanor changed in the last part of the chapter during the dialogue, its mainly because she still wants to appear her age. As for why no-one recognized her as a ghost of the school, would you? she had just been part of a fight, and obviously had sweat a lot, not to mention the fact that a ghost looks more different from a human being anyway, seeing as a ghost has no color to them. In any case, I doubt that anyone would put 2 and 2 together since the dead are meant to stay dead. At least in my opinion anyway.**

** If you don't believe that then it's my story anyway lol! I have a plan!**

**As for Moody I know It looks like I'm making him out to be a bad guy here but he's just had his arse handed to him by a 17 year old and he's meant to be the toughest Auror in the corps. I think his pride is a little hurt, not to mention the fact that in his eyes, she's the enemy, having walked in and out of the school without so much as breaking a ward. To him that means she's dangerous.**

**Any other questions then just ask, like I said in the previous A/N  
**


	4. Reunion

**Hey guys here is the latest chapter. I hope you like it. It's not exactly my best work but I hope it sates your appetite. I beta'd this one myself so if there are any mistakes I'm really sorry I've missed them. Thanks guys enjoy the chapter!**

The look on her sisters face was rather comical and if Lily wasn't so angry with her sister at this moment, she probably would have laughed.

"Lily...you're… you're dead" Petunia stammered, opening and closing her mouth like a fish that had just been forced on dry land.

"Really?" she said sarcastically while looking down at her arms and legs. "Well that puts a dampener on things doesn't it?"

"I buried you...your body. You are dead" she repeated emphasizing the last word as if trying to convince herself that it was true, even with evidence to the contrary standing right in front of her.

"Was" Lily said deadpanned

"I'm sorry?" Petunia asked confused.

"I _was_ dead." she replied back as if she was speaking to an idiot. It wasn't too far from the truth.

"I don't understand" Petunia said, trailing off in a whisper.

"Neither do I but that's how it happened" Lily said shrugging her shoulders. Without waiting for an invitation she struts through the front door leaving Petunia with a dumbfounded expression on her face. It took a few seconds for her to snap back to reality before she followed Lily into the living room where Vernon was busy watching television. When he noticed their guest he didn't even turn to her direction until Petunia tried to speak again.

"Lily I'm-"

"Don't you _dare_ say you're sorry for what you put me through because that ship sailed a long time ago. To think that I actually used to look up to you! You were my sister for god's sake!"

"Now you listen here-" said Vernon rising from his chair

"Vernon sit the fuck down before I force you down you pathetic waste of space" she spat with venom. Her eyes held such hostility that even Vernon cowed for a fraction of a second before the stupidity he was born with kicked in.

"Get out of my house now whoever you are. You're not welcome here!" he shouted his face starting to grow red.

"No."

"Leave at once!" he shouted.

"You forget who you're talking to. You couldn't make me leave even if you tried. Now like I said sit down!"

"Who the hell are you to tell me what to do in my own house" he spat, looking upon Lily with absolute hate.

"Were you not listening a few minutes ago? I'm Petunia's sister. _Harry's_ mother. I'm surprised you don't recognize me but then again you did ban me from her own wedding". His face slightly paled at her last, finally sensing things were about to get rather more unpleasant.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead? It's the only reason your freak of a son stays here". Whipping out her wand faster than lightening she instantly hit him in the chest with a disarming charm that seated him back on his couch and sent it straight into a wall with a crash. Petunia could do nothing except give a startled yelp while Vernon looked briefly disorientated after the impact. Lily wasted no time however and strode right over to Vernon and touched her wand to his chin, eyes almost glowing with hate.

"Call him that one more time I fucking dare you!" She spat, almost challenging the large man to blink.

"Lily please!" Petunia begged, panicked by her sister's rage.

"Why shouldn't I?" she said facing her sister while keeping her wand poised at Vernon's face. His eyes were fearful, knowing that right now he was completely powerless. "For the last ten years I've had to watch while this...creature abused and beat my son and you allowed it to happen! I could maybe have eventually forgiven you for your treatment of me over the years, that was just a childish grudge, but this? I will never forgive _either _of you."

"We took him in what more do you want" Petunia said, disdain clearly evident in her tone.

"What more do I want? How about a fucking home, some love, _anything_. You've been transferring your jealousy for me onto my son and what the hell for? Do you blame him for my death, is that it? Because I probably would have died regardless of him." Not entirely true, thought Lily, but her hateful sister didn't need to know that.

"You disgust me right now it's actually sickening to look at you." She said evenly, using as much Occlumency as she could to control the anger that was now bleeding into her body. It was amazing how quickly her attitude could change from initially feeling nervous when first knocking on the door, to the sheer rage she now felt welling up inside her. It was almost consuming but she knew she had to control herself. There was no room for mistakes now.

"We fed him, clothed him, gave him a roof over his head; even let him go that blasted school of his. He's always been an ungrateful-"

"Fed him? Are you kidding me? There are kids in third world countries given more food than him. Clothed him? You call Dudleys cast offs clothes? I wouldn't even give them to charity and don't even get me started on Hogwarts. You fled to a bloody island to try and evade his acceptance letters, not that it worked if you remember…" She looked up at the ceiling briefly in reminiscence. "Ah that was a great day." How is Dudders these days? Has the stump where his tail used to be healed properly yet?"

Vernon just glared at her.

"No answer? You were very talkative a minute ago. Never mind. Where was I? Oh yes, now we move onto your argument. He's never once had anything to be ungrateful for. You never gave him anything of his own...ever. You even forced him to give any pocket money he got from jobs and give it to you for his 'upkeep'. Still no answer Vernon? Because from what I remember, you get money directly from the Harry's Headmaster to pay for his 'upkeep'" and then she rounded on Petunia again, not quite finished yet

"You treat him like a house elf, forcing him to work almost all day on chores that are way too dangerous for a boy of his age...well maybe not now but who asks their child to cook for them from the age of 6? He could have injured himself, hell he could have died but no you just didn't care did you! Not one bit - you just wanted your bloody breakfast! You're damned lucky Dudley is out doing whatever he does these days, probably terrorizing children around the neighborhood or I'll have a few choice words to say to him as well!" She briefly flicked her wand to Vernon and he was bound to the chair, unable to move until Lily removed the charm before casting a silencing charm preventing any interruption on his behalf; knowing him he'd put his foot in his mouth at one point and whilst she hated the man with a passion, she didn't want him dead. This also gave her an opportunity to move towards her sister and keep her full focus on her.

"What I don't understand is why? What made you hate him so much you would treat him like he was dirt, while your own son was doted on like the second coming of Jesus. Why Tuney! Why would you do that to him! To _me!_" She finished as tears started to form in her eyes. This was something she had never really known. Why all the hate. Sure there was Petunia's jealousy of her but it had to run deeper than that for it to transfer to her son so readily. There was something in her eyes...something she couldn't quite pin down.

"I...we..."

"What no answer? No justification? Come surely there must be _some_ reason why you have essentially abused my child for the last 14 years? Did you really hate me that much that you would make an innocent young boy suffer through 14 years of your own prejudice and jealousy?"

Petunia opened her mouth to reply but it was at that moment that creaking could be heard from the floor above. Seconds later the sound of footsteps slowly descended from the stairs. Lily's heart was hammering in her chest like it was trying to escape from her body. This was the moment that she'd been waiting for since she came through the Veil. This was the one moment that could change her life again. It was like she was being born all over again.

Letting her gaze wander to the stairs in anticipation she waited, too scared to make a sound. Different things were running through her head. _Would he accept me? Will he even believe it's me?_ _What can I do to convince him I am who I say? Am I short of veritaserum? Have I gotten everything sorted...oh please tell me I haven't forgotten something. Oh god I haven't done the Fidelus! No wait I need Harry for that anyway never mind...I..._

She was starting to panic now with every footstep she heard. She could hear him slowing and took a sharp intake of breath when his body first came into view. It took all of her self-control not start bawling but as it was, even with her enormous amount of self-control she possessed, she still couldn't stop the tears from welling up in her eyes.

His eyes locked on hers the moment his head came into view, widening in recognition but hardening almost instantly. This was what she was afraid of. He obviously didn't believe it was her but who would? Who would accept that the family they had always been told were dead were standing only meters away in the flesh? Who would accept that someone who you've been told stories about all your life was suddenly standing your living room? It was ludicrous. It was crazy, no matter how true it was.

He shifted out of view again as he came to the bottom of the stairs, since the stairwell led straight into the hallway, obscuring it from the living room's view. In those few seconds Lily's mind went over everything she could. She had to convince him. She would be heartbroken to only fail at the first hurdle.

In the seconds it took for Harry to move himself into the doorway of the living room, she felt sick.

She took in his appearance. He was small for a boy of his age, but then again, he'd but underfed, undernourished all his life. His wild black hair reminded her of James. In fact he almost looked like his exact copy except it was her own eyes which stared back at her. He was wearing Dudley's old clothes like always did, baggy and untidy looking. She never understood why he never just went out and bought his own clothes but then she surmised that maybe he just didn't have the confidence. It could even be something as simple as the fact that maybe he hadn't thought about it and had just taken his lot in life; there was some comfort in routine she supposed.

His eyes retained that hard look. It was like he was staring into her soul. She never quite understood it when he said that she had a glare that could cut glass. Now she did. She almost shrank back from it. She had to tread carefully or this wouldn't go well.

"You're dead" he finally spoke, trying to sound emotionless. She would have bought it as well, if not for the slight shake in his voice.

"You're dead" he repeated, harder this time, more conviction in his tone.

"No honey I'm here-"

"I _heard_ you die...the Dementors. I witnessed your final screams...you can't be here...who are you?"

"I'm your mum Harry"

"No! My mother died, murdered by a psychopath. Who _are you _imposter. Who would be sick enough to come here in the guise of my mother? I've witnessed the death eaters' cruelty but this? This is taking it to another level. How _dare_ you come in here pretending to be my mother!"

By now he had his wand out, his face alight with anger. His entire body was shaking, you could actually feel his heart breaking. It was too much for Lily to bear. She knew she should have found a different way. This was torture to him.

"No Ha-" it was too late. She couldn't get her sentence out before Harry had fired a stunner straight at her. She managed to block easily but he sent one at her again, straight after. Petunia just stood there with her mouth open not knowing what to do. Spells just continued to fly though Lily refused to send any back at him. Even in self-defense she wouldn't attack Harry, not even to save herself.

"Please Harry!" she cried in between blocks. She was getting desperate now. In Harry's rage his spells just kept coming quicker and quicker and she was struggling to keep up. He wasn't top of his defense class for nothing. Stunner after stunner came, it was relentless. It was only after a while she quickly realized something. Harry was using _only_ stunning spells. Nothing lethal. She didn't know whether it was because he couldn't bear to harm someone that even _looked_ like his mother or if there was an element of doubt. Either way it didn't matter. She could work with this.

"Please stop" she begged, trying to get his attention. "The Order...will be here soon! Do you...really want that? I can...prove who I am...just _let _me".

He stopped firing spells at started circling Lily, who by this point was panting for breath, fatigued by the sort bout. Harry also looked tired but still kept his eyes locked on hers between deep breaths.

She could see the pained look in his eyes, like he was going to break any moment.

"How?" he asked desperately. "How on earth can you prove something that can't be true?" Tears were leaking from the corners of his eyes now.

"My Patronus...I...I can't fake that Harry."

"I don't even know what your Patronus is so how is that proof?"

"What no-one told you? Bloody Dumbledore...I swear one day-" She caught the expression on his faced and stopped.

"Never mind" she mumbled "Just think Harry, a Patronus represents the thing you care for most. And what do I care for most Harry"

"Dad...or me?" he said shakily.

"Exactly...so what form would my Patronus take"

"A...a deer?" he stuttered out. Instead of replying, Lily simply whipped out her wand

"_Expecto Patronum" _she cast, saying the words as if in simple conversation. She was thinking of the memory where she held Harry for the first time, right after he was born.

The silver doe that flew out of her wand was bright as the sun, such was the strength of emotion the memory evoked. Harry could feel the emotions in the air, his previous conflict banished in the blink of an eye. How could anything of evil create something so beautiful? A dark witch or wizard would never be able to cast this charm. It just wouldn't be possible. The only alternative was that she was telling the truth...she was his..._mum_. The look of total serenity on Lily's face served to add to that conviction, her teary eyes misty with happiness.

"It's really me Harry...and I really do love you" she said lightly and for a second her Patronus shone even brighter, if that was possible

It took him a few seconds to find his voice again

"_Mum...mum_...I...how?" he could barely speak he was in awe. She was here… on earth. No don't question it. He wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. As curious as he was, all he cared about was the woman standing in front of her. His mum...it sounded so impossible to even think.

It was then his legs moved almost without command and he barreled into her so fast she nearly fell over, engulfing her with a hug to rival that of Molly Weasley. She was warm to the touch, her soft arms circling him as he started crying into her shoulder. His previously hard demeanor crashed down within moments of realizing the one thing he had wanted all his life was literally wrapped around him.

Lily wasn't fairing much better. He said it..._mum_. Hearing those words come from his mouth made her feel like she was floating on air. The change of expression on his face when he realized she wasn't lying. From anger and desperate to...hope and...dare she say, love.

The moment she held in her eyes she felt like the largest weight in the world had been lifted. She did not feel ashamed of the tears that were falling down her face; she just wrapped her arms around him and rubbed his back as he cried into her body. She absentmindedly stroked his hair as he sobbed into her, whispering into his ear. She didn't know what she was saying but it had the desired effect. Gradually he managed to calm himself until he was merely whimpering, though he didn't stop crying.

Her sister was still staring at her, a thoughtful expression on her face. She probably didn't know what to make of the situation. The room had gone from a war zone to calm to another war zone to emotional in the space of minutes. Vernon was still stuck to his chair unable to talk or move, glaring daggers at the mother and son reunion in the middle of the now ruined room.

When he was finally coherent enough to disengage himself from her long enough to look into her eyes, they were ringed red and bloodshot from emotion. A normally stoic boy was wearing his emotions for all to see. It was quite a difference from the face he usually let the world see him but for some reason, in front of her, it didn't matter.

He raised his hand to lightly touch her face, feeling her soft skin underneath palm, which she kissed lightly. He didn't know what to think anymore.

When he finally found himself able to talk it wasn't exactly what he expected to come out of his mouth, nothing profound or heartfelt.

"You look younger than I expected".

She just laughed. It felt musical to him yet so foreign.

"This is the body I died in... so I still look 21"

"How is this even possible?"

"I'll tell you later but right now we need to leave, the order will be here any minute."

"Leave?"

"You didn't think I came here just to have a go at my sister did you? She's not worth it."

_Is she saying what I think she's saying? Harry thought._

"Now-"

"Shut up Tuney the only reason I won't hex you to hell right now is that Harry will get blamed for it."

She turned away from Harry briefly and set her eyes on the whale on the armchair that was Vernon, still pinned down by magic, his face purple with rage but unable to do anything except glare. She smiled wickedly and proceeded to sit on one of the arms.

"So sorry Vernon I forgot you were there. Now let me make this very clear, I am nowhere near finished with you. You see that reputation you value so much? In a couple of days you are going to get a little visit from child services. There will be no warning they will just arrive. Apparently there will be...I don't know, a report of child abuse perhaps? I still have to sort out the details, oh well I'll get round to that. They will immediately begin searching the house for Harry. They will be terribly unhappy when they can't find him and even more unhappy when they look at that lovely cupboard. I wonder what they will make of that? I'm sure they will be quite upset when you tell them you have no clue where he is" she smiled malevolently.

"A pair of guardians that can't tell the authorities where their own nephew is… I'm pretty sure that might raise some rather significant alarm bells. Don't bother trying to cover your tracks either. You'll find that after I've left you won't remember a thing I've said...or me for that matter."

She turned her smile to Harry though it softened back to the motherly smile she wore before.

Truth be told, Harry was rather enjoying this. He was never one for violence. He hated it and would never go so far as to hurt his relatives but this kind of punishment was something his conscience could quite easily stomach. It hit them where it hurt most yet didn't cause them any real harm except to their reputations, and perhaps a short prison sentence.

But this would mean...

"Go get your things Harry we're leaving." Lily told Harry

"Where to?" he asked with curiosity.

"Your new home of course" she said matter of factly, as if that answer explained itself.

"I'm...living with you?" he stammered out. He could barely believe he was escaping the Dursleys, even now

"What did you think was going to happen? Surely you don't want to stay?"

"Of course not! I just...Sirius said that once..." he said trailing off. You could see the pain in his eyes, the grief still there from losing him so soon after being reunited with him. It was heart-breaking

"Harry" she said cupping his face in her hands. "I know you miss him. I would be disappointed if you didn't but this isn't the same. Unlike him, I have somewhere to go, somewhere to hide. We will be completely safe. No-one is going to go out on a limb searching for me because, let's face it, I'm dead" she said with a smile.

He wanted to say something, say how scared he was. To ask how it was possible she was even standing there in front of but he found he couldn't, such was the determined expression on his mother's face. Her eyes bore into his like windows to the soul, emerald green locked on emerald green. He had so many questions but no time to ask them. He promised to himself that he would later.

"Go, get your things. I'm actually surprised the order hasn't already arrived."

He didn't need to be asked twice. No sooner had the words left her lips had he gone running up the stairs and into his room to pack. It was probably the fastest he had done anything in his life, pulling up the loose floorboard to get to all his hidden items he had to hide from the Dursleys and stuffing them in his trunk. It didn't take him very long at all, and try as he might, he couldn't erase the large grin on his face.

Meanwhile downstairs it was deathly silent. Lily let her eyes wander around the room area, checking and double checking that the order hadn't arrived. Petunia stood like a statue, saying nothing at all. Vernon kept his glare, except now it was halfhearted, mixed with fear and apprehension from the threat that Lily had given. He was screwed and he knew it.

"Why Petunia...at least tell me why" she said softly after a silence that seemed to last forever. It had only been a few minutes but it felt like hours. Even the soft way she spoke the words, the sound cut through the air like a knife.

Petunia swallowed, a mixture of guilt and sadness on her face. It was not a look she had worn often. In fact she hadn't worn it once since she had been married to that monster she called a husband.

"You left me...the moment you got your letter" she said, bitterness in her voice. "You and that Severus kid from Spinners end. We were sisters...close as you get and you left me...for _them._"

"I didn't leave you Tuney. The moment I was revealed a witch you belittled me and called me a freak...you hated me."

"I didn't _hate_ you. I envied you. I'll admit that maybe it didn't come across that way. I wanted to _be_ you. Why did you have to be so special? We both had the same mother yet you were...one of _them_ and I wasn't. I hated that you left us."

"Say the word Petunia it won't kill you"

She didn't reply, and just looked down in shame. Lily knew she could never forgive her but knowing why did make things easier for her to bear.

"Then we grew further and further apart. Each time you came home we were more distant with each other. I'll admit that some that was because of me but still what did you expect? Mom and dad fawned over you and I was ignored. So _proud_ they were of you and your accomplishments, they couldn't get enough. Would you have not been angry? Envious of something you could never be? I hated them. Hated my own parents for ignoring me and it was all your fault"

"How was it my fault?" Lily demanded.

"You and your _freakishness_. You had everything! Where did that leave me! I didn't even have the love of my own parents because of their _perfect_ daughter. _You _took them away from me. You and your blasted husband. Then you went and got yourself..._killed_" she stumbled on the last word, since she wasn't sure of it's meaning anymore. _Was she killed?_ She asked herself. _That's what I was told anyway_.

"And left me with this boy who looks like _him_. I have to wake up every day and look at the face that took you away from me, look into the eyes that used to belong to you...how the hell do you expect me to feel? You and your _freaks_ took everything from me" she spat with venom.

Lily could see the pain of years of feeling second best in her eyes, but despite knowing what she felt, she still couldn't bring herself to feel any pity. Sure she had been the favorite. Looking back now it was painfully obvious that Lily got most of her mum and dad's attention. It was unfair she knew and Petunia had every right to feel wronged. The real sticking point though was how she dealt with her jealousy and that was where her sympathy ended. She had done the inexcusable. There was no justification. People felt jealousy every day and didn't turn out the way she had.

"I understand...I think. But you have no right to hate my son for the sins of another. He never did _anything_ to deserve your ire. You talk about James taking me away from you? You're the one that refused to attend our wedding when James insisted we invite you. Yes _he_ sent the invitation Tuney, not me _he _did. As for my death, I didn't die because I was a witch; I died because we were at war. Muggles were being killed too." Not entirely true but she could afford to be a little creative with certain parts at this time. There wasn't exactly time to explain the politics behind the war.

The argument was cut short when Harry literally came running down the stairs with his trunk and Hedwig's cage, a huge smile on his face as if Christmas had come early. He was practically tripping over his own feet to leave.

"Got everything?" Lily asked him. He nodded vigorously in response.

"Are you sure? We aren't coming back again."

"Don't worry mum everything's here. All I really have are my school supplies and some clothes anyway" he replied. It annoyed Lily that he had so little to take with him. He literally had nothing except his friends. The only thing of value he owned was his broom and it wasn't like he could use it here could he. Not only would Vernon and Petunia have a fit, it also broke the statute of secrecy if you were seen...and he _would_ be seen.

Glaring at Petunia, she waved her wand at the trunk and cage, placing a feather light charm on it. She took a deep breath. All this shouting at Petunia had made her tired. It really wasn't worth the effort. She doubted that she would ever change and Vernon definitely wouldn't, the vile human being. He was a parasite and she was glad that she had decided to clip his wings while she was down. Someone needed to take him down a peg or two and her sister was hardly going to do it.

"Right I think we are ready to leave now. I don't see the point in hanging about. Oh I nearly forgot, _Obliviate_" she said, pointing her wand at Vernon. His eyes glazed over for a second before he slumped back in his chair, only semi-conscious. That out the way she turned back to her sister with a cheerful smile.

"I don't hate you Tuney, I just hate what you've done. Despite everything you are still my sister and as much as it pains me to admit it sometimes, I still love you so I'm going to give you a chance. You can remain married to _that_ if you want but if you want out I will do everything I can to help. I doubt your marriage has any love left in it. Don't worry about Dudley, if your marriage broke up I'm pretty sure you would get custody and if he challenges it I will step in and help. I'm offering you a way out Tuney. If you don't want to leave then that's fine and I won't force you." She said to her sister, keeping eye contact all the while. She could feel a flicker of doubt in her eyes as she mentioned leaving Vernon. She could tell she wanted out but was worried about the repercussions. She wouldn't mention that if Vernon tried anything she would do everything short of killing him to keep him in line. It was up to Petunia to work up her own courage.

"I'm going to now place you under a charm similar to the one I cast on Vernon-" she held her hand up to stop her sister from interrupting before carrying on. "-I said similar not the same. He's going to forget everything that happened today completely. You on the other-hand will remember again in a few hours. This will essentially mean that when _our people _come, my existence remains a secret still."

This seemed to placate her and she visibly relaxed. Harry stayed quiet through this entire exchange. He was baffled as to why she was giving her another chance after all she had done. Then again she was her sister so it wasn't _too _surprising. He had heard that his mother was an inherently nice person many times from anyone who had known her, an angel with red hair. They weren't too far off.

"Goodbye Petunia. I really do hope you make the right choice. _Obliviate tri-hora" _the moment she spoke the smell, Petunias eyes glazed over and she walked away from Lily into the kitchen. Her part had been done now, the rest was up to her. If she really wanted to change it was all in her hands. She guessed only time could tell. It was still doubtful that she would ever forgive her sister for her transgressions but this was for her benefit only. It would be interesting to see if the human being she once knew was still there after Vernon had stomped over all the self-worth she had.

Taking a deep breath and a one last look at the house around them, she waved her wand in a wide sweep, fixing all the damage the initial spell fire had caused. All the shrapnel and peeled paint reset itself back into the walls and the cracks sealed themselves to look like nothing had even taken place.

"Er...sorry about that" Harry said, looking down slightly embarrassed.

"No need to be sorry I would have done the same. I'm impressed actually, that was some neat spell work" she said making him smile. It felt nice to get a complement from his mother. Of all the people that were in his life, none of their praise felt as good as it did when it came from the woman in front of him.

"Thanks I guess".

"Your not good at taking complements are you" she said sadly, knowing how much an effect living here had had on him.

"Well...er..."

"Don't worry we'll soon fix that. Just try not to do this to our new house ok?" she smirked and Harry nodded with a small chuckle. It was the first time he'd laughed since she'd set foot in the house. He glanced over at Vernon with a look of concern, though why he was concerned was a mystery to even him.

"He'll be fine. When he wakes up he'll be his usual insufferable self. At least until child services come anyway"

"You meant that?"

"Of course I meant it. He's not getting away with anything. He can rot for all I care" she pretty much growled out.

"Let's go now. The order will be here any minute and I don't really want to be around when that happens. Dumbledore seems to think it's a good idea to stick you here with people who hate you...no offense-"

"None taken"

"-but I don't entirely agree with him. It's not like the blood wards protected you from what was _inside_ the house was it? Come on let's go."

Taking a last look around the house she led Harry to the front door, opening it to let Harry out. she knew that the Order were most likely watching right now so she got her cloak out from her bag and put it on so her face was covered. It may have been hot outside but she would only need to wear it for a few minutes. She briefly wished she thought to do that when she initially came to the front door but then realized it would have just drawn attention. Chances are that as it was, she was simply seen as just another muggle neighbored visiting the Dursleys. Sure she wouldn't have been recognized but the fact she went past the wards would prove she meant no harm on anyone inside.

Before she went outside she gave a reassuring nod to Harry, who seemed to look nervous, fidgeting slightly as he followed her into the hallway. It like a dream to him. He almost felt guilty; only a few hours ago he had been sulking over the loss of Sirius and now he was happier than he ever has been, being escorted out of his personal hell by his mum. It was ethereal...transcendental. It was as if reality just couldn't decide what was possible anymore so it just did one impossible thing after another, almost creating a reality inside a reality but even though he knew his mother _shouldn't be_ there and this _shouldn't _ be real, he knew it was, just like he knew his name was Harry.

"You ready?" she asked him with a smile

"No...but let's go" he said shakily to which she laughed.

"Come on" she said gesturing to the door "Actually wait!". She quickly waved her wand at his belongings, shrinking them down to a very small size. She walked over to Harry, and seeing what she was going to do, he handed the shrunken down and let Lily place it in her bag. There was no use lugging around a huge trunk and a bird cage even with a feather-lite charm. It was just awkward.

"Ok now come on" she said.

She now grasped the handle firmly and pulled, opening the door outside. She squinted as the light from the sun shone over her eyes, it's warm heat washing over her face, the gentle breeze caressing it as she took a deep breath in. While her hood protected her face from being seen, the sun still touched her skin and so did the evening breeze. Suddenly, the world didn't seem such a bad place anymore. It was like a giant weight had been lifted off of her mind today. She could now stop worrying about whether she was going to be a good mother or not and instead just do it. No more anticipation, more nerves. Sure she was still terrified but now the situation was real and she actually had her son back, her fear was no longer at the forefront of her mind, instead it sat at the background, where it couldn't interfere . She was very much _free_ now.

When her eyes adjusted to the glare of the sun outside, she pulled the hood forward a little, so the sun was now shielded from her eyes. As soon as the sun was out her eyes she noticed something that gave her pause. Standing right in front of her were 6 wizards including Dumbledore pointing wands at the house, casting numerous spells. She couldn't make out what they were saying but she surmised they were trying to get past the wards.

_Ah so the Order did arrive earlier...though that's odd, they should be able to just walk through so long as they mean no harm and as infuriating as Dumbledore is sometimes, he's not exactly a dark wizard is he_ she mused.

Her presence was noticed upon her exit of the house but other than a furtive glance, none of the wizards really acknowledged her other than Dumbledore. _Great. 10 Galleons says he's going to "reason" with me...you know if I were s Death Eater I seriously doubt "reasoning" would work_ she thought. She guessed that while the other wizards were probably curious about her, they were busy trying to bring the wards down.

"Greetings" he said in his usual jovial tone. "I must say I'm impressed someone could possible pass the boundaries of this house without breaking the wards. If not for the grave nature of you doing so, I would offer my congratulations on your success"

"I feel I should take that as s complement" she said in as passive tone as possible.

"You should. It takes remarkable skill to do what you have done. Alas I cannot allow you to go any further. I'm intrigued as to how you have used the wards against us, especially given the nature of them...miss?"

"Like I would tell you my name!" she laughed, amused by his boldness "Blood wards are often hard to understand. I wouldn't worry too much about it though Albus"

Albus was taken aback for a second. _She knows about the blood wards? That's supposed to be close guarded secret_. He knew had to play this carefully. _How much else does she know_.

"That they are though I'm curious as to how you are aware of them"

"I have my ways." She said mysteriously. She inwardly smiled, enjoying using his own games against him. It was one of the most infuriating things about him, the way gave half truths and non-answers to any question he didn't want to answer.

"Of that I'm sure. Where are the Dursleys? I'm surprised they haven't come out already, given their animosity for our kind" he said curiously. Indeed he was wondering why he hadn't seen any sign of them since he had arrived. Usually they opened the door to shout at any wizard that so much as came near the house, a reason why many members of the Order that watched over Harry remained hidden from view. Not seeing the Dursleys he feared the worst, though he knew Harry must be alive, seeing as the wards were still active.

"Don't you worry about them, they are currently asleep in the house." She said reassuringly, sensing what the aged man was thinking.

"And Harry-"

"Is right here sir" said Harrys voice from the doorway. He gave his headmaster a hard look, unforgiving and cold. He held the headmaster directly responsible for what happened at the Department Of Mysteries. For a second the Headmaster flinched at the cold look in his eyes. He had taught Tom Riddle after all, and knew that look well. He had to step in before the worst happened.

"Harry my boy it's good to see you, though I wish we could have met again under different circumstances"

"Funny how life works" Harry said with a hard edge. Lily walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder as comfort

"_Relax_" she whispered as she leaned in close to her ear "_Now is not the time to get angry. I know he has hurt you but there is a time and place. Come on let's go home. I'll even tell you about the last time your father tried to cook" _ she said with a cheeky laugh and Harry laughed as well_...oh and be careful not to refer to me as mom...Dumbledore knowing is the last thing we need_".

She could tell he was going to need her. There was so many emotions running through him. He did as he instructed though, and calmed down as much as he could. It helped greatly that his mom had discreetly took his hand in hers and was gently rubbing it.

"There is no need to feel alarm Harry"

"ahaha alarm? I'm not exactly being coerced into leaving sir. I'm _choosing_ to leave."

"Harry be careful how you phrase things. Remember the moment you renounce thins place as your home verbally, the wards will fail"

"Right...sorry."he said sheepishly. He could only imagine the disaster that would befall if the wards failed now. He would likely be strapped to a chair and god knows would happen to his mum.

"No problem" She smiled

"Harry I must implore you to see reason. There are wards here that prote-" Dumbledore said frantically but was quickly cut off by an irritable Harry.

"I am well aware of my mothers blood wards sir. You mention it almost every time you send me back to the Dursleys. I won't be needing them anymore so don't worry"

"But Harry-" he said raising his voice slightly.

"He's more than made his mind up Albus, leave him alone. I wish I could stand here all day and satisfy your undoubted curiosity but we really have to go" Lily snapped. There was no way she was going to let Albus get manipulate Harry again. Even with her son this angry, Albus had a way of somehow getting what he wanted out of an argument and wasn't going to give him the chance to get the upper hand.

"Harry you would leave with this _stranger_ just to get away from the Dursleys?" he said exasperatedly. _Surely it can't be this bad_ he thought. It wasn't the first time he had questioned his decision to leave him at the Dursleys but it was certainly the first time he had this questioned it this strongly. Here was a woman he had never seen before, though he couldn't be sure because of her hood. The voice was somewhat familiar but he couldn't place it.

"I would do far more than that sir but she's no stranger to me...I like to think I've known her my whole life" he said with a small smirk. Lily could barely hide a smirk from forming as well. Score one for Harry. He was learning playing the riddle game back at Dumbledore, just like she just did. Dumbledore took a thoughtful expression, clearly trying to find the meaning behind his statement. This only confirmed his suspicion, he must have seen this person before but who could it be? She seemed to have some kind of connection to Harry but who? He thought he knew everyone that was involved in Harrys life but it appears he was wrong.

Shaking his head as if to regather his thought, after all it would do him no good to dwell on things during a dire situation such as this, a few seconds later he spoke again.

"I'm sorry but I can't let you leave"

"I know you said that but what makes you think you can stop us" she said confidently

"There are anti apparition wards and anti portkey wards set up all around Little Winging. You cannot leave" he said looking apologetic.

"Well there is your answer. If the house wards are strong enough to keep out the most powerful wizard in Britain and 5 of his lackeys, do you really think the anti apparition and portkey wards are going to make the slightest bit of difference to us? While we are here, we are untouchable." She said with a triumphant grin. Harry couldn't help but laugh as Dumbledore face turned white. He looked as if he was a deer caught in the headlights. There was nothing he could do.

"Goodbye Albus" sighed Lily before raising her free hand in a sort of salute hand. Harry, other than giving a short wave, did nothing to acknowledge a goodbye and just held onto his mothers outstretched hand. It was time to leave and begin his new life.

"Harry wai-" Dumbledore shouted in a last ditch attempt to stop him but it was too late. In a flash, Harry and his companion apparated away from Privet Drive, leaving Dumbledore standing there staring into space, as the wards of Privet Drive fell a few seconds later.

_What just happened? _He thought.

* * *

Helena didn't have a very restful night's sleep; her mind swam, consumed in new knowledge. It was enough to give her a headache, the constant thrumming of new information and random images flowing through her mind like a wild river, it was nauseating. Every time she tried to lie down and clear her mind, a new thought would pop into her brain, a new experience. It came to a head at around four in the morning when she had been nearing the edge of sleep, and a conversation her ghost self once had with one of her fellow Ravenclaws when they got lost flitted through her mind.

_This is ridiculous_ she thought. It was getting to the point where she couldn't think properly without something interrupting her. In the battle earlier it was fine, since her mind really hadn't had time to think, it just reacted. But now that her task was done, the adrenaline that had come with yesterday's escapades had worn off leaving her with more knowledge than she knew how to process. It was at this moment that she realized that she really needed to start practicing Occlumency again. While it was something that came naturally to her as a student, she had never had to use it on this scale before. This wasn't a simple case of organizing the mind and putting up defenses. That was child's play. This was a case of organizing a completely new mind with more information than even Dumbledore could hope to hold. She was like a walking book.

She literally knew everything.

Or at least she knew everything that had been taught or talked about at Hogwarts, which surprisingly, wasn't all that impressive. Sure it was a premier school, but in trying to deter the use of the dark arts they had banned almost all information that pertained to it. While this could have been viewed as a good thing in a way, it also left a rather large gap in knowledge that needed to be filled. She knew most of the Dark Arts from her own era but not what it had evolved into. It was one of the first things she intended on looking in to. With the banning of the Dark Arts, there were unfortunately very little teachings for the means for defense against them.

There was quite a bit of irony in the fact that by destroying what they considered "dark" they also eliminated the means to protect from it as well. If it wasn't for the fact that it was costing lives then she was sure she would have found the predicament rather amusing.

Getting out of her hastily built shack, she wandered into the middle of her clearing and crouched down into a relaxed position with her legs crossed.

When she had left the castle the previous night, the first thing she did was travel as far into the Forbidden Forest as she dared and set up a semi-permanent residence. Using magic, she had quickly cut down a small group of trees to create a clearing and shaped the wood so that it could be made into walls. It took barely half an hour for a simple, but spacious lodging to be created from the surrounding trees and another fifteen to conjure a bed and some furnishings. She didn't need much; after all she was from the Middle Ages, and she had survived on far less then.

In the center of the clearing was a small fire where a cooking spit glowed from the heat of the flames below. Behind that was a group of training dummies that she had charmed to look like death eaters. She hadn't tested them out yet, except to make sure that the self-fixing charms she used on them were working. She promised herself she would do that when she had had a good night sleep.

Taking a deep breath she stilled her mind, immediately retreating into herself like she had done so many times before. Normally this process would barely take a second but with all that was running through her head it took much longer to achieve that state. She felt herself slowly coming in on herself before she finally made it into her mindscape. This was what all Occlumens aspired for, to have complete control over the inside of their mind. Occlumency was one of the first things her mother had taught her as a child and perhaps the one thing she would take out of her childhood most of all.

Since she was the daughter of a powerful social figure, she was taught the skill so she could not be used against her in any way and so that she could protect herself against any outside influences trying to manipulate her. It also served to improve her memory recall, as her mind was much more organized and memories were easy to grasp. The Ravenclaw family skill in this art was one of the reasons why they were so brilliant. It was said that once you taught a Ravenclaw something once, the instructions never had to be repeated again, they just _knew._

Opening her eyes up _within her mind_, she gasped at the difference she saw. Her mind took on the guise of a large library, books representing different memories, each bookshelf a different category, each isle a different year. It was remarkably easy to find an individual memory if you knew exactly what you wanted. Even the books on the shelf were ordered in terms of importance. It was impossible to get lost here, at least for her. No doubt if any wizard made it inside, they would find it rather difficult to find what they desired, even if they knew what they were after. It was methodized chaos.

What she saw now was just chaos. Somewhere in the distance were the long aisles of book shelves she recognized but in her more immediate eye line were piles upon piles of books. It was literally a mountain. Leaning down to pick one up she briefly looked at the title on the front:

_Ravenclaw Common Room 3rd May 1823_

_Artemis Lovegood talking with Graham Potter_

She opened the book and let the memory play out in her mind. That was how it worked. The books weren't just a representation, at the end of the day it was still a memory. It was nothing of importance, just a conversation about upcoming exams. They didn't even know she was there. No-one ever seemed to if she was honest with herself. The only person in the castle to really talk to her over the last few years was that Luna girl. She was kind unlike so many before her, even if a little strange. She could see a slight likeness to Artemis, mainly in the eyes and the way his gaze seemed to see right through you, the man in the memory. A distant relative she surmised.

She was a ghost both literally and figuratively, as much in the background as a piece of furniture. Few people ever saw her and the ones that did paid her no mind. She was invisible to the residence of Hogwarts, dismissed like she wasn't important. Maybe she wasn't then. Now she was an information goldmine.

Using intense concentration she used her mind to start cataloging the books, the memories they held, flashing before her almost too quick to process. Once she had reviewed a memory, it automatically sailed off into the distance in the library to be put into its proper place. It was something she had trained herself to do over the years. It saved a lot of time but where you were looking through a thousand years of memories it was a lifesaver that without, she would never be sane again. It was only now she realized how dangerous what she could have been. Had she not been with someone who knew Occlumency, she would have driven herself insane. She still wasn't sure how sane she would be when she was finished.

She didn't know long she had spent there sorting through all those years of memories. It could have been days she spent in her own mind and she wouldn't notice. She only stopped when she could feel herself growing tired. She at least felt a little more organized, even if she knew that completely Occluding her mind would take weeks. At least now she might be able to get some sleep.

Closing her eyes inside her mindscape she drew herself back out to her body. Looking around she could see a soft glow of light emanating from the skies, signalling the start of the day. She must have been in there hours. Getting up from the ground she could feel her eyes drooping, how tired she was from organizing her mind. The flow of images had stopped for now, but she knew that it was only a temporary respite.

Taking one more look around her, she opened the door to her abode and laid herself down for bed. She was so tired that her head hadn't even touched the pillow before she fell asleep

**So there it is. Not exactly Charles Dickens I know but I did my best. I hope you enjoyed it and I'll have another chapter as soon as I can make it. Any questions as usual post it in a review or PM me I answer 90% of questions directed to me so long as they are reasonable.**

**Oh and if your going to criticize something please know what your criticizing. I had a review the other day pretty much having a go at using a religion belief in my story then proceeding to call it evil even though I didn't actually go into detail about any religious belief...in fact the only reference to any religion was in chapter 1 and only a sentence at that.**

**Anyway enough ranting.**

**Enjoy. **


	5. A New Start

**Here is the new chapter. It's a little later than I would have liked but here goes. Hope you like as it was a right bitch to write lol**

Harry didn't like apparition. He could now say that unequivocally. Not only was it extremely uncomfortable; the feeling of being compressed down a tube and rapidly expanded again, the nausea he felt when he dissapparated was almost crippling and he had to lean over to quell the dizzy feeling that came with it.

"It's a bit uncomfortable the first time I know. I'm actually impressed you weren't sick" Lily said smiling cheerfully.

"Give it time" he grumbled and she laughed; a musical sound to Harry now. Now he was away from Privet Drive he could really reflect on what this actually meant. His mother was alive, after all these years of living with the Dursleys he was now with his mother! He had a family, albeit a one person one and that gave Harry a sense of pride. He looked at her and saw hope for the future.

As the dizziness past, he looked around, trying to recognise where he was. It was a relatively urban area and vaguely reminded him of Grimwauld Place, except without the dinginess and misery. It felt warm if a little crowded. In the distance he see the top of the Canary Wharf, confirming that he was indeed in London.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. Come on let me show you home"

"Home…_home_" he whispered the second word, like he was trying to discern it's meaning. So far he had places to live, keep warm, eat and drink. He didn't really have a home. I guess you could call Hogwarts a home in a way but even then it was still at the end of the day a school. Here his mum was talking about a real home, the kind he would always be welcomed into, a place that most people took for granted.

"What's wrong honey" Lily asked, seeing the look on her sons face.

"Nothing…just never had a home before". He felt safe telling her this. He didn't need to be guarded around her. She was someone he could trust completely and say anything and feel no shame.

To this Lily came forward and gave him a warm hug, using her embrace to enforce her words as they came

"You do now" she said while rubbing his back gently. A few seconds later she stepped back and looked directly into his eyes

"And you _never_ have to worry about that again. I'm doing the job I should have done 14 years ago."

"Yeah about that-"

"-how am I alive when everyone thinks I am dead? How am I still in a 21 year old body? I'll tell you as much as I can but not here. We should get inside" she said gesturing behind her to the house. It was the first time Harry had really got a good look at where he would be living for the near future. From the outside it didn't really look like much. It was just an average sized house in the middle of London, joined on both sides by another house. It's stone was a greyish brown colour, old and worn like it had been built for years. It probably had.

In front was a small metal gate and some tiles that lead to the front door, that he could tell was a pale blue colour even if the paint was a little worn. It wasn't much to look at but to Harry it was perfect because it was his. He lived there. This was where he would live. He could spend time with his mother, and talk about things he would never be able to with other people.

He barely noticed when Lily put her hand out and presented small key to him. He picked up the key gingerly, like he was scared of breaking it. He stared at it for a few seconds, taking in it's significance but was shaken out of his reverie when his mum spoke again.

"Well don't just stare it it! Let yourself in!" she snapped out though the effect was ruined with her smile. She knew just how big a moment this was for Harry and would give him all the time he needs. Taking a deep breath he opened the gate slowly, which elicited a slight creek before walking up the path to the doorframe. As he got there he paused again, seemingly trying to work up the courage to walk inside. It seemed the closer he got, the more nervous he got. Nervous about what? he wondered. _It's a house! It's not like it's going to eat my life Fluffy or the Basilisk tried to_.

Taking a final breath he pushed the key into the hole and twisted, listening to the sound of the lock disengage and the door creak open. As he opened the door he could smell a floral scent wafting over him and saw a vase of flowers perched on a table in the hallway.

"Welcome home Harry" he heard his mother's voice behind him say. As he took a few steps through the threshold, he felt his mother brush past him and take his hand, dragging him forward. She seemed to know he was having trouble moving on his own, his own emotions were bringing him down like quicksand, freezing his limbs to the point where they would take hours just to make their way into the kitchen.

"Come…I'll show you around." She said warmly, knowing full well that an excitable attitude would just wear him down today. He was already overwhelmed. Harry looked at the hallway in wonder, trying to take in every little detail he could. He noticed the walls were covered in a light blueish wallpaper that almost matched that of the door outside. The coving where the walls met the ceiling were covered in ornate carved design that Harry couldn't quite recognise but nevertheless looked pretty. The carpet was a deep crimson, and look newly laid, since it was clean and completely unblemished. He was still admiring what most would call a mundane hallway when his mother dragged him into the living room.

"Well here is the living room. I had it magically expanded a bit as you can tell. Over there-" she pointed to the fall wall where a large bookcase stood next to the main window "-is the Potter family library. I've also added a lot of my own textbooks to it as well. Don't hesitate to use it I won't stop you. I've set up a special kind of blood ward over this property similar to the one that was in effect over at the Dursleys" she spat out the word Dursley like it was a disease.

"Only people with my blood will be able to even see the property let alone cross the threshold. I could have used you but you probably know almost all pureblood families are related and…well let's say your blood really wouldn't be much protection considering some of the people your related to. These wards are more secure than a Fidelus" she finished.

"Then why do people use the Fidelus?"

"One because Blood Magic is illegal in nature. I'm pretty sure the only reason I wasn't prosecuted was because I had died and it was convenient to keep you 'protected'

"The reason I'm telling you this is because you can use as much magic as you want here and not suffer any repercussions from the ministry".

Harrys face lit up at this.

"However be responsible. If you do anything to make me regret letting you use your wand I'll confiscate it and you won't get it back until I deem you responsible enough are we clear"

He nodded excitedly.

"I understand mum" he said and proceeded to scan the room around him. Like his mum said, it had obviously been enlarged though not overly so, and it still looked moderately natural. It was clad in the same décor as the hallway. She noticed a few couches and armchairs in the centre of the room set in an arch around a medium sized table. They seemed to be facing the wall where a large frame stood. It was empty which indicated that it was a living portrait though who's it was he wouldn't know until the occupant returned.

"I'm looking into procuring a television for the lounge as you can probably tell. I know electrics don't generally work around magic but there are ways, so long as you know what you're doing." She smiled at Harrys expression. He'd always been under the assumption that fusing muggle technology was impossible but his mum just explained it as if it was simple

"So why don't more people do this?" he asked, curious as to why he hadn't even heard of the possibility in Hogwarts…or anywhere for that matter.

"Bigotry mainly. A lot of purebloods in government like to use this as an example of how muggles and magicals can't mix…pathetic I know but so is politics"

"I set the furniture this way so that when you want to do your homework, you have a peaceful place to do it" she said as gestured to the table eliciting a sigh from her son.

"Yes you will be doing your homework" she laughed as Harry rolled his eyes.

"Through the door there –" she pointed to the door at the back of the room on the left, farthest from the window "is the kitchen. The bathroom is through there on the left but I don't think I need to show you that. It's just a bathroom after all."

"Let me show you your room." She said, grabbing Harrys hand and pulling him back into the hallway. If she didn't it was doubtful that he would have moved, his eyes scanning the room taking in ever little detail; every crack in the wallpaper, every tiny piece of furniture from the magically charged lamps to the wooden dressers to the majestic bookshelf that covered an entire wall. It was certain that without Lily to guide him, he would be stood staring for hours before he sat down on one of the couches, only to stare some more.

When they were in the hall, she lead Harry to the left and up a stairs. The wood creeked slightly as they moved, and when they got to the top, Lily turned left again, walking a few paces before stopping in front of a door. Harry gasped.

It wasn't just that he now had his own room. He'd had his own room at the Dursleys, as bad as it was there. No, what floored him was the name plaque screwed onto the front of the door.

_Harrys Room_

His room. The plaque alone marked the permanence of the new arrangement. It was a reminder that things really had changed now. Tentatively he reached out and touched the golden plaque, fingering the letters as he fought against emotion. He refused to cry over this. He refused.

It took all his control but eventually the feeling left, and he felt ready to open the door. Lily just nodded at him, giving a reassuring smile and stood to one side, allowing him room to wall in alone an unimpeded. He opened the door slowly, like he did the front door leading into the house but this time he didn't feel nervous. He felt exhilarated.

What he saw nearly too his breath away. The room was perhaps twice as large as his room at the Dursleys and was dominated by a large four poster bed that looked remarkably like the one he had in his dormitory at Hogwarts. The walls were covered in crimson red and orange, adorned with his house colours and Griffindore posters. To his right was a window which overlooked the back garden, letting light through. On the right wall was a small bookcase and a dresser where he would keep all his cloths. He walked up to it and touched the wood with his hands, trying to take everything in. The bookcase was empty at the moment but he would soon fill it. He had to touch everything to assure himself that this was real, and not just a dream or his imagination. He still had that nagging feeling in the back of his mind he would go to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow morning back at the Dursleys, steeped in the misery he was drowning in before. Every little touch of the furniture, the walls the doors; they were all that were keeping him centred In reality.

Through all this Lily said nothing; she had watched from afar all his life and knew all his nuances and behaviour quirks she probably knew him better than he knew himself without even having to say a word. She kept quiet and watched as a number of different expressions played over his face from shock and surprise to wonder and excitement to disbelief. She knew he needed to work these things out for himself so she just left him to it as he walked around in circles.

"I'll be downstairs. I'm going to make us some lunch. Roast chicken, potatoes and gravy good for you?"

He nodded but his mind seemed to be elsewhere so she turned away and gently shutting the door, leaving him to his own thoughts. It was obvious there was a lot to fix with her son. Even now he seemed unsure of himself. A lot of that could be attributed to the disbelief of suddenly seeing her mother alive and moving away from a place he has despised all his life but you could see how little self-worth he had just by looking into his eyes. The looked haunted all the time, the weight of the world constantly bringing him down. She always knew she had a tough road ahead of her but it wasn't until now she realised just how much.

Sighing sadly, she walked downstairs and got started on making the dinner. She was glad that she stocked up on food before she brought Harry home. It was obvious he shouldn't be left by himself right now. His thoughts alone would bring him down. It took all he willpower just to come downstairs and make the food but she had forced herself to do it for both their sakes. After the stress of the day they needed a break, some time to themselves to gather their thoughts before they got on with the rest of the day. There was so much she wanted to tell him. She noticed James's painting was empty for the time being, and for that she was grateful. She thought seeing him just might make Harry break down. He had already gone through so much today it would be the straw that broke the camel's back. She was sure James would be back in his portrait tomorrow but for now she was happy just to have Harry to herself and let him get used to his new home

She worked seamlessly on autopilot, cooking a meal that she had done a hundred times before except this time it was for her son and not her husband. In the short breaks where she wasn't doing anything she went upstairs and checked on Harry, just peering through the door, only to find him laying on his bed staring at the ceiling. He looked better than he did earlier now he wasn't moving. Less restless.

She kept running through everything in her mind again; the things she promised herself she would talk about once she had finally got Harry. She started sorting through what was important and what could wait. The first thing on her mental list was obviously tell him the circumstances of her resurrection. That would quell any niggling doubt he might have in his mind and ease a huge weight off his mind.

The second major thing she needed to talk about was hid education. In fact it was probably the first thing she had to instil into him. She could see all that potential inside of him and he let his lack of self-confidence hold him back. He was the best in his class in Defence Of The Dark Arts which was pretty much a mash up of all the other wand subjects since that both charms and transfiguration were used in DADA. By that logic he should be one of the strongest students in the school but instead he was decidedly average in other subjects. She didn't know why that was but she was determined to find out and fix it. She saw so much untapped potential in him but was at a loss as to why he was struggling. It wasn't that he wasn't smart. He was very smart, surpassed only by Hermione really and even then that was only in book knowledge, since in practical application, Harry could probably wipe the floor with her.

If she could only find a way to motivate him, he could truly become a force to be reckoned with and his grades could rival those at the top of his classes. It was too late for his OWLs but she was sure that in his NEWTS he could get Os across the board if he really applies himself. Even with an impending face off with Voldemort which scared Lily shitless, she knew that he needed something to take his mind off of things and if she could get him really invested with learning, that would be achieved. That and he could get any job he wanted once he graduated out of school without having to use his "Boy-Who-Lived" tag, not that he ever would. He would give Malfoy Junior _and_ Senior a hug before that ever happened.

Sometimes she couldn't thinking like a mother.

Here she was thinking about grades and really she should be thinking about just keeping him alive. At the end of the day though knowledge was knowledge and it was very likely that getting his grades higher would carry over. In fact it was pretty definite. The only problem was potions.

Severus Snape…

It was hard to get a real read on Harry's talent on potions mainly due to the abysmal teaching given to him. Why her once friend Severus had taken a childish grudge this far was beyond her comprehension, and it was a wonder he still had his job. She was sure that if he actually filed a proper complaint and got his house on board over the favouritism, he would find it very hard to keep his place at Hogwarts with or without Dumbledore protecting him. It hurt her to see him act that way to her kin.

She had seen how broken he looked after her death yet he refused to see any of her in her child when in all reality, he was more like her than James anyway. He had James's looks and quiddich skills but past that she could see a lot of herself in him. Severus seemed to only have a one track mind and find faults in him that didn't exist. Of course he had his faults but the ones that Severus seemed so keen to point out were the faults of James, not Harry. Harry had his own sets of pros and cons. He was not James.

She could tell that she probably had a mountain to climb to make him enjoy potions. Severus had damaged Harry's enjoyment of the subject to such a point, it was a wonder he was getting E's in his work. In fact if he could get him to really enjoy what he was doing and not let his appalling teaching affect him, he really could be something in this subject. She hoped anyway. It was just conjecture at this point. She was sure that even she herself who loved the subject and had a natural affinity for it would have trouble feeling enthusiasm for the art if taught by someone as cold and unyielding as Severus had become and this was without factoring the obvious victimisation that Harry was under.

To think that she and Severus had once been the best of friends and now she could barely think about him without gritting her teeth. He had been the first wizard she had met, the first wizard to show her kindness and introduce her into the magical world. He was once a very good man and over time had been warped by the peer pressure of his house. Even then he stuck by her till that night he had said the forbidden world…that _horrible_ word. Then it all came crashing down.#

She knew then she could no longer be friends with him. He had to make his own path, his own future. She could no longer pretend that what they had was salvageable. Maybe if she had survived that fateful Halloween his guilt would have been the wakeup call he needed. As it stood, while he was now firmly on the right side of the war, his bitterness held no place in her world. How can she welcome back someone who lets his past dictate his every action? It was not her son's fault who his father was nor was it Severus's fault that she had died as much he seemed to take the blame upon himself. He had no way of knowing who that prophecy pertained to. It could have been anyone though that didn't excuse the fact he was working with Voldemort.

The blame of who caused her death lay solely on two people; Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew.

She was broken from her musings when the oven beeped to signify that the food was ready and it was time to dish up dinner. With trepidation she walked up the stairs and lightly knocked on the door to his room.

"Harry honey dinners ready…" she said in a low voice, keeping herself quiet in case he was sleeping. She could always put a heating charm on his food if he was sleeping. As it happened it happened.

"I'm coming" he said before opening the door and giving his mother a warm smile. He looked a lot more relaxed than he did earlier, some of the spark returning to his eyes. The still held some sorrow, no doubt from losing Sirius, but he looked less despondent, less disbelieving. She knew it was the right decision to leave him alone for a while and let him get his head around the situation. It was certainly an unusual situation.

"I'll never get tired of that…"

"What?" Lily replied before Harry blushed and looked away.

"I didn't mean to say that allowed…" he muttered in embarrassed.

"What were you thinking" Lily exasperatedly, smirking in mirth.

"Do I have to say it mum…it's embarrassing" Harry said, almost whining. Lily laughed at the look on his face when she replied.

"I'm your mother, It's my job to embarrass you"

"I…er…I…fine! I was just thinking I'll never get tired at looking at your face, seeing you every day like I've wished for the last 14 years…I told you it was embarrassing!" he said rushing ever word out quickly getting more flustered by the second.

"It's not embarrassing it's…sweet. I've wished the same thing for years too you know…come on let's eat. I bet your hungry" she said to which Harry nodded. To say Lily was touched by his words was a gross understatement, however rushed the execution was. She was feeling tears well up in her eyes and she had to concentrate on not look at Harry while she was descending the stairs. It felt good to be needed, and those words brought home just how needed she was. By the time she made it to the kitchen to dish up, she had got a grip on her emotions though, and they sat down together at the table in the living room for their first ever "family" meal.

No words were said at first, they just ate in silence, occasionally stealing glances at each other. The sun was still coming in through the window, lighting up the room gently. A ray of light shone across to the side of Lilys head and Harry noticed how the light caught her red hair and it turned into a kaleidoscope of colour. He saw his own eyes staring straight back at him every time their eyes locked during their meal. They seemed to be speaking without words, knowing exactly what the other person was thinking. Of course that wasn't the case, they just happened to be thinking similar things but they felt connected. Harry for the first time really took in Lilys appearance, from her hair that changed colour the light to her flawless porcelain skin. He noticed her beautiful her smile was and that when she spoke her voice sounded almost like music, calm and soothing.

It felt strange to think of his mother as a 21 year old woman that was only 5 years older than himself but perhaps even more strangely, it didn't bother him. The fact she was sitting right in front of him eating a meal with him like any normal person, was enough for him. He could tell she knew he was staring but by the smiles she was giving him, she understood and just let him. To him nothing was more beautiful or perfect than the woman that sat before him.

It was silent for probably about ten minutes before Harry felt brave enough to break the silence. It felt like too good a moment to end, but he knew he couldn't spend the whole meal in silence. There were just too many questions.

"So…mum…how is it you're here? You said you would tell me when we get home…and seeing as we are here I was hoping…that you could explain?" he said, his nerves slowing him down.

"Oh honey no need to be nervous it's alright to ask. Well it's kind of hard to explain but I'll give it a go. I suppose I have to start at the beginning." She began.

"The night at the Department of Mysteries, when Sirius-oh don't give me that look it _wasn't_ your fault!" Lily said after seeing the guilty expression at the mention of Sirius's name

"Sorry…" he said looking down.

"It's ok but I'm right. It wasn't your fault. You were tricked by a man who's been in the game a hell of a lot longer than you have and the curse that struck him came from Bellatrix's wand, not yours."

"How do you-?"

"I've been watching you all your life. Trust me, I know a _lot_ about you"

"You've been watching me" he said with a faraway look in his eyes.

"Of course I have. Both me and your father. You didn't think that just because we had died we wouldn't have an interest in our sons life did you? We loved you!" she said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. To her it was. Harry just sat there looking on in watery eyes.

"You mean? In the chamber?...the tri-wizard tournament?...the Dementor attack?...you were there for all of it?"

"I wouldn't say 'there' that's not how it works but in essence, yes. I've seen it a_ll_."

"Back on topic, your godfathers death triggered something never done before. You may not have known this but he wasn't dead when he fell through. He was only stunned. We may never know why Bellatrix was only using stunning spells when she's never been known to be forgiving but that is what happened. Either way it was lucky because I was given a chance. A few days ago I was approached by a Fate…a higher being. He explained to us; your father, Sirius and I, that due to Sirius not being dead when he fell through, they were able to send someone back…an exchange if you will. Normally they still wouldn't do it…they have their own rules that they follow but just this once they decided that the situation was dire enough that they would allow it. They wouldn't _tell me _this…they just said Sirius's death invoked magic from the veil but it doesn't take much to work out…they couldn't have stopped us but they didn't. In fact they could have just not told us and nothing would have come of it."

She took a moment to gather her breath before going on. Harry was sitting there with eager eyes, listening to the story his mother was giving with vigor

"You know the prophecy don't you?"

Harry paled at the mentioning of this but he nonetheless nodded at this.

"Well it's partially due to the prophecy they made this exception I think. I'm about to tell you something that only Dumbledore knows, at least in this world. You are not to tell anyone this. Not even your friends Ron and Hermione-"

"how? Oh yeah watching from afar…sorry"

"No problem" Lily smiled "Anyway you can't tell them what I am about to tell you ok? This is not because I don't trust them. I've seen how loyal they are to you and they would guard your secrets to your grave. I ask you this for their own protection. Any competent legilimens could easily pluck the information from their minds without them even being aware of it."

"I won't tell them don't worry" he said, though he secretly wondered what information could be so sensitive that he couldn't even risk telling two of his closest friends about it. Then again he wasn't going to tell them about his mum when he first saw them again. Not only would they not believe him, they could possibly go to a teacher and there was no way he was going to take the risk of losing his new home within a few weeks of gaining it.

"There is a reason why Voldemort didn't just die when he came to Godrics Hollow. The rebounded killing curse should have killed him but it didn't. Over the last 50 or so years, Voldemort has been searching the world for old relics of the founders of Hogwarts. I won't tell you everything, seeing as Dumbledore plans on showing you his history this year and I want you to at least have some questions for him so he doesn't get suspicious. I'll simply give you a simple version of the long one he will tell you. Voldemort has split his soul into several pieces in objects called Horcruxes. Now normally they could be anything but in Voldemorts arrogance he chose Hogwarts relics…things that mean something to him. In fact you have already come into contact with one already…

"What? No I haven't..." he replied before it dawned on him

"…they diary? That was a piece of his _soul"_Harry said with a disgusted look on his face. To think that thing had possessed Ginny for a whole year and been inside the school. It wasn't just a memory of Voldemort…it _was_ Voldemort or at least a part of him. The idea made him feel sick…revolted.

"I know" She said, reading his expression "It's horrible to thing a piece of his soul was in the possession of a child. I can only imagine the horrors that she must have gone through. It's lucky she has no memory of the event or she could have gone mad"

"Just how much of my life have you been watching" Harry asked incredulously

"Just this and that" she laughed.

"Why would someone tear apart their soul? It almost seems inhuman?"

"Is Voldemort human though? His own fear of death has led him down a path of rituals and Horcrux creations. You see a horcrux stops your soul from passing on even after the body has been destroyed. So long as one part of his soul remains in the mortal world, he cannot die. The scary thing is he didn't do this just once but _seven_ times, as he thought that by using the most magical number possible he was insuring his immortality. He's gone way beyond the normal level of evil"

Harry was floored. Seven times? He mutilated his soul seven times? And as long as those pieces remained, he cannot die. How on earth could he fight something that couldn't be killed. The weight of his task was bearing down on him like an anvil and he couldn't really see a solution.

"Don't worry yourself Harry. I will do _everything_ I can to give you a chance. You don't think I'm going to do a _Dumbledore _and only give you information I think you can handle. With me you get full disclosure. As much as I want to protect you, I think the best way of protecting you starts with knowing all the right information."

Harry gave a dry chuckle when she mentioned Dumbledore but other than that kept his face rather impassive.

"Thank you…It means a lot to me that your being honest". Said Harry truthfully. He was done with people trying to protect him by coddling him in half-truths and lies.

"While we are on the subject of being honest, I need to ask you something and I want you to answer completely truthfully."

Harry nodded as if to say go on before Lily continued.

"Are you really trying at school?

"-Before you answer" she said, holding her hand up to stop Harry from immediately replying "I want you to really think about this…I mean really think. When I say trying I mean working to the best of your ability, I don't mean just completing your assignments in."

Harry thought for a couple of minutes back on his years at Hogwarts, trying to find the right answer to his mother's question. He wanted to say yes he had been trying his hardest but he knew his mum wouldn't have even bothered asking the question if that was the case. So he mentally went over all the lessons he could remember, from Potions to DADA. He already knew for a fact that he wasn't exactly trying in potions. Half the time he didn't see the point seeing as he was only going to get an A anyway. He always got Es in his final exam due to the absence of a certain potions professor learing over his cauldron every five minutes but either way he knew he could do better.

He moved on to Charms and DADA which were surprisingly similar. Both involved a lot of practical and he was often one of the first to master new spells after Hermione and he often dragged his feet on the written side. It was at that moment that he realised what his mum was getting at. He was slacking. While Hermione was a little on the other end of the scale when it came to school work, he could probably do a lot better if he spent less time playing chess with Ron and more time working. He was sure Ron could survive.

Moving on to other subjects he noticed much of the same in varying degrees of difference. Transfiguration was his most challenging practical subject yet he spent little time trying to get better at it other than in classes. A bit of self-study would probably go a long way.

In fact the same could be applied for all his wand subjects. He was the best in his year and perhaps the whole school in Defence, simply because he was always applying what he had learned. He doubted he would be nearly as good if he hadn't constantly practiced his skills in the subject. Last year he had taught half the school how to defend themselves…he even taught them the Patronus with quite a large degree of success which was a charm that most full grown adults had trouble with.

He briefly wondered why he cared about his mothers question so much. It wasn't like he analysed everything in such a detailed manor on a regular basis, that was Hermione's territory. It didn't take him long to realised that he care simple because it was his mother that asked it. He cared what she thought of him and was determined not to let her down. He desperately didn't want to disappoint her which is why it hurt when after a few long minutes he had his reply ready.

"No…I mean in class I suppose I'm decent at the practical work but the written portion…I often just rush through it so I can play chess or exploding snap with Ron…sorry"

"No need to apologise you were straight with me and that's is what I asked. Know that I'm not disappointed in you"

"Your not?"

"No. You're a product of your environment; stuck between someone who studies too much and someone that studies too little and don't look at me like that, I'm not blaming them either.

"Sorry"

"Stop apologising"

"So-…I mean ok"

"Better" she said with a wry smile. She reached across the table and grabbed Harry's hands, locking her eyes into his as she spoke

"All your life you have had people make decisions for you, a few of them right, but most very, very wrong. When you go back to Hogwarts I want you to do the best you can. I only ask for that. Nothing more nothing less. I don't expect O's and E's if you can't do them. If you get an A in an exam and and afterwards you can truthfully say that was the best you could have done then I will be satisfied ok?"

He nodded as Lily relinquished his hands. He could feel tingles on his fingertips where her hands had touched, so unused to body contact he was. He could feel his mind starting to wander again before Lily broke him out his own thoughts and continued.

"This should have happened years ago…Harry if it's ok with you I'm going to try and teach you a few things before you go back to Hogwarts. You have 4 weeks until you go back to school, and quite a bit of catching up to do...I've seen what you can do Harry. What normal child can blow away over a hundred Dementors at the same time. What normal boy can teach an entire class of their peers Defence Against The Dark arts, including students up to 2 years older than themselves? You sell yourself short so much Harry it's about time you realised it"

Harry blushed t the praise. He was sure he'd normally try to play down his achievements, insist that he had help or that he was lucky. It was the look on Lilys face that stopped him. It simple screamed _accept the damned complement I'm not arguing with you over this._

Harry thought on what it would be like being taught magic by his mother. Almost every teacher in Hogwarts had sung her praises, saying that she was a brilliant student. There was undoubtedly a lot he could learn from her. She was someone that everyone looked up to, someone that even _Snape_ refused to say a bad word about. In fact looking back he noticed that while he was constantly berating him for his nonexistant similarity to James, he never even _mentioned_ his mum. It was curious, though he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

"Sure" he said with a bright smile.

"Oh your smiling now. Let's see if your smiling by the end of the week"

His smile faltered slightly but Lily gave him a mischievous wink.

"What exactly will I be learning?"

"A bit of everything. Well everything that this small house will allow. DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Potions- yes potions. I know Severus hasn't exactly been an…exemplary teacher but that is no reason for you not to excel in his class."

Truthfully Potions didn't sound that bad, it was just the image of Snape that accompanied the word that made him wince. For years the subject had brought bad memories with it, 90% of them due to who was teaching it. It was an art that he may have actually enjoyed learning had his experience with it not been marred from day one. Nowadays he just worked mechanically, trying to avoid the bitter teacher.

"I know don't worry. I think you'll find I'm nothing like him. He's not so dashingly good looking for one" she said laughing and Harry smiled slightly.

"It's a shame really, he used to be my best friend…now…"

"Wait you were friends? With _Snape…_that greasy git" Harry exclaimed disbelievedly

"Hard to believe I know. When I was a little girl he was the first person to introduce me to magic. He lived across the hill at Spinners End. Most people just refered to him as 'That strange boy' that dressed strangely and lived in a creepy house on the other side of town but he was my first real friend. It's hard to make friends when people are afraid of you see…magic does that to people, even when it's just accidental."

"Anyway it was him I turned to when my sister was being her jealous self. You know she referred to me as _freak_ too? It wasn't just you she hated simply because of magic, though it wasn't really hate I found it later….more like envy"

"Envy?"

"Yes envy. We are what she could never be. As the years went by I was my parents 'gem'. It wasn't till later on I realised how all the attention was making Petunia feel. I should have done more…never mind I'm getting off topic. Severus stayed friends with me almost all the way through school, despite your fathers constant bullying…I loved your father but he really, really hated Sev"

"Sev" said Harry raising his eyebrows slightly. He struggled to contain a grin. It was hard to believe that his mother could give him a term of endearment. 'Sev' almost made him sound cute and cuddly…the thought amused him greatly

"Well I could hardly call him Severus every time I wanted to gain his attention could" she said smiling back.

"I get your point though…it suited him then but it doesn't exactly fit now does it."

"Despite James constant harassment and the house rivalry, we still stayed strong up until about midway through 6th year, which was an achievement in itself. You see back then house division was even worse since it was essentially a Death Eater recruitment camp. Sev got himself in with the wrong crowd. Things just went from bad from worse and eventually…well he said the one thing he should never have said…" she said, her eyes getting a misty look to them. Her face took on a pained look, as it got lost in the terrible memory of that day. Even now the betrayal hurt.

"He…said that word and at that moment I knew our friendship was over. It wasn't something you could take back or say sorry and it would be ok. He did say sorry…but it was way too late"

"What word did he- oh…Oh!" he said with realisation. His expression turned dark and he clenched his fists in anger. How dare he speak that word. It was a word of hate and racism that made Harrys skin crawl with anger.

"Indeed it's disgusting isn't it" His mother agreed solemnly with a sorrowful expression.

"From then on we barely spoke to each other, merely acquaintances to each other."

"It wasn't till he made a grave mistake did he see what he was getting himself into and finally turned spy for Dumbledore"

"What did he do?" Harry asked inquisitively.

"As much as I would like to stay honest with you, If I told you what he did, I doubt you could keep your temper in check around him. His mistake was rather bigger than most…along the realms if the kind of mistake Pettigrew made. I fear you will try to attack him or worse should I tell you now. I will tell you though…just not yet. I hope you understand but this is _definitely_ for your own good believe me"

"…ok I think I understand. Won't stop me from hating Snape though"

"I don't expect you to. I hate Snape for exactly same reason. No-one treats my son that way over a childish grudge to a person that isn't even alive anymore"

Harry felt a surge of pride at his mothers protectiveness of him and gave her a warm smile in return.

"You should eat" Lily said, changing the subject. "You have barely eaten anything since you have come downstairs"

"I don-"

"Eat" scolded Lily with an expression that leaved no room for debate.

The table reverted back to comfortable silence. And Harry ate his meal in relative silence, while Lily just looked on deep in thought. The way he held himself showed a boy bereft of confidence, his slumped shoulders so guarded it looked like he was trying to shrink into himself. He found it hard to take a simple complement and even from the short exchange she had had with him, she knew that he wasn't likely to challenge him on everything. It was as if the last few years had crushed his soul to a point where he was a shadow of himself.

She made a decision there and then in her mind that tomorrow she was going to take Harry to France for some shopping. Maybe a new wardrobe might make him feel better about himself. It won't fix everything far from it, but maybe getting some nice things might instil a sense of self-worth and pride into an otherwise broken boy. She would be recognised in Diagon Alley so they couldn't exactly go there…looks like they were going out the country for this one.

Another thing that alarmed her when she looked at him was his physique. He looked to small for a boy of his age mainly due to malnourishment. She had been looking down at him for years and knew this but only when it was staring at her straight in the face did she realise how bad it really was. He just looked _too _small. What was more confusing was that all it would have taken to fix this was some nutritional potions that he could have been issued every time he got sent home for the summer so even when he was underfed, he wouldn't lose any more weight. The only thing that was keeping him from looking looking like a stick insect was a combination of Quiddich and life and death situations. DADA and the DA also contributed a lot to this as duelling in general involved a lot of movement and physicality. It was safe to say that without Hogwarts that he would be a lot worse state than he was now.

He just looked unhealthy, another thing to add to the seemingly never-ending list of things to do. Dumbledore had really fucked up with him, from his place of residence, his care, the amount he knew. He hadn't even been told about his larger holdings. He just thought he had a trust vault for merlins sake! She resolved to get some proper nutritional potions as soon as she could and buy enough ingredients to make her own brand. It was one of the things she was working on before she died, though she never thought she would ever have to use it on her own son. They were just an idea she had to help starving children that had nowhere to go.

The potion in question was much like a nutrient potion but it also increased the metabolism and helped convert the nutrients to muscel quicker. It would bulk him up and make him human looking. They were like muggle steroids except without the side effects, though it should not be taken too often, as once the extra muscel had been gained, it would not be lost; it was part of the magic of the potion. Another thing to consider was the fact that even with the extra bulk, you still had to work it or you wouldn't really reap the benefits.

Looks like Harrys going to be doing a lot of cardio from now on

_God he's going to hate me by the end of summer_ she thought to herself a smirk tugging on the edge of her lips.

As Harry finished eating, she picked up his plate and brought it to the sink.

"Go get your books Harry. First lesson starts in 15 minutes"

"What…we're starting now?"

"Why not? It will give me a good idea of where your really at. Since you've been at the Dursleys for the past week I would have thought that you would be glad that you could use some magic.

"I am…just…never mind I'll be down in a minute"

"Good"

Turning away as Harry scampered up the stairs to get to his books, Lily waved her wand through the air in a graceful arc and the room expanded further, the furniture sliding back into the walls leaving an open space in the middle. She swept her wand yet again and transfigured a crimson mat on the floor to imitate a duelling platform. It wasn't perfect but it would suit the purpose of what she wanted for the time being.

Once that was done she strode over to the bookcase, taking out a couple of books she thought she might need and placed them on the table, which was now sitting in the far corner of the room where it had been pushed back to. It took her a good ten minutes to find all the books she wanted, which were a surprisingly large amount, before piled them all up and walked away from the bookcase again. She was afraid that if she stayed there, she would have continued to pile up more and more books until the whole bookcase was on the table, which was a fair amount of books, seeing as it was enchanted to carry more than 1000 books and would present to you the book you most wanted at the time.

While she was waiting for Harry to come back downstairs, she made a couple of finishing touches on the room, diming the lighting slightly and raising the floor slightly so the duelling platform stood out. There really wasn't much else to do until Harry came back downstairs, holding his school books under his arm.

He sharply inhaled when he saw the room. What was the living room a few minutes ago now was outfitted like a dualing room. The lights were dimmed and there appeared to be a little more room. He took a step closer to the platform before Lily addressed him, almost switching into 'teacher' mode.

"Ah your back. Today I'm going to take it easy on you since it's your first day back. I was going to wait till the morning but I'm sure your itching to use your wand now that you actually can so I changed my mind. This first session I just want to see where you are in terms of skill. It's quite simple; you and are going to dual until one of us is bound and wandless. Don't be afraid to use something a little dangerous, just no dark magic please."

"I would never use dark magic especially not on you!" Harry cried indignantly. The thought of even casting a dark curse made him feel sick but the suggestion that he would even try to cast one on his mum appalled him.

"While it's nice to know you won't ever consider shooting a dark curse in my direction, there will come a time where you probably should use some dark magic in a dual. Remember in a real dual your aim is to survive. If surviving means using some suspect magic then do it. I'm sure you'd rather be alive than dead?"

He nodded sadly.

"I chose this exercise today because DADA is your best subject and I wanted to do something you would enjoy…Potions can wait" she added seeing the smile form on Harrys face.

Truthfully Harry was excited that he was able to show his mum exactly what he could do. He didn't want to her down and would put everything into this dual though he wouldn't cast anything too dangerous. She was right when she said this was his best subject and he was determined to put on a good showing. He didn't know how good his mother was at this subject though chances are she was good if anything the professors had insinuated were anything to go by.

"Stand over there on the far side of the platform." She instructed and Harry moved himself to the end of the platform. He could feel the nerves creep in as he fingered his wand. He stood there, still as he could as Lily made her way onto the other side of the platform.

"Bow" Harry bowed and Lily did the same. For a few seconds the room was painfully silent. The anticipation was crippling.

"Begin!"

In an instant Harrys wand snapped into his palm and he cast the first curse.

Lilys wand flicked out of her wrist holster at the same time and silently sent a stunner straight at Harry.

They two red balls of light met in the middle with an ear splitting crack, the flash nearly blinding. The force of the blast knocked each of them off their feet before they landed back on the platform and immediately sent another spell.

"Show me what you got Harry" she said just as Harrys follow up curse impacted the wall behind her. She side stepped the next two spells and caught the next in a shield.

As a reply she sent two stunners, a body bind and a cutting spell, careful to aim for the body and not anywhere that could kill him. The last spell had barely left her lips before Harry sent multiple stunners at her at a vigorous pace. The air looked like a small firework display, in the dimly lit room. The walls absorbed every spell like she enchanted them too as more and more spells filled the air a lot of them impacting each other before they even came near a shield.

For the next 20 minutes came all the air was filled with a steady stream of spells, the air crackling with ambient energy. Harry could tell that Lily was testing him. It became apparent within minutes that she was a very skilled dualist. She moved gracefully and purposely, many of his spells missing their mark without even the need for a shield. She made no sound, casting all of her spells silently, each move methodical and calculated. In the space of about ten minutes he had spotted at least five different points where she could have ended this dual. Harry was fighting to the best of his abilities. She was certainly holding back. Her spell repertoire was also incredibly advanced, constantly changing and unpredictable. Harry relied mainly on the disarming spell and the stunning spell. Lily seamlessly switched between spells without a second thought, using fire, water, shockwaves, air, illusions…it took all his concentration just to defend himself against the constant variation of magic. She even used a small amount of transfiguration, conjuring a flight of birds to zoom at him at speed.

He could feel perspiration building up on his brow. He couldn't last much longer. He needed to kick up a notch but for the life of him didn't know how.

But even though he knew he was obviously outclassed, he fought on with a smile on his face, until he couldn't raise his arm any longer.

He didn't groan about his defeat or feel sorry for himself. One look at the proud expression on his mothers face was enough to dispel that idea. Instead he felt something for the first time he had in years. He felt hope. No no matter what situation he was in, he would never be alone.

After all here was his mother, a loving and caring woman, preparing him for a task that even Dumbedore himself, who knew of the Prophecy, had refused to do. He knew he had a long way to go. The comprehensive way in which he was beaten was enough to tell him that, yet it didn't dishearten him in the slightest, it just spurred him on to get better.

Finally he had someone that could help him beat Voldemort.

**There you have it. I had some more but decided to leave the chapter there and put the extra stuff onto the next one. On another note if you notice any spelling that shifts from English to American at any point like the word "recognise/recognize" then blame the spellcheck...I sometimes do last minute editing on FF and for some reason FF does all the spell check in American spelling...bloody thing**

**I may also edit this chapter at a later date and add more in as I know I rather skipped through some of it because of my self imposed deadline. I will go back to it and fix it and when I do, I promise to do an A/N in the chapter I am at, at the time to let you know it's been done.  
**

**Anyway read and review I know it's not the most interesting chapter but I'll try and make up for it in the next few.**


	6. Meeting At Grimwauld Place

**Sorry about the wait guys, my computer broke. Originally this was going to just be one long chapter but then I decided to break it in two parts as it was getting a bit wordy and I was getting carried away slightly. This isn't my best work but I hope it placates those who were waiting for an update. **

Chaos.

That was the only word to describe the Order the moment that Harry Potter was reported missing. It had only been a day since the announcement that a mysterious figure had infiltrated the castle and now an even bigger bombshell had been dropped. Within two days things had turned from relatively quiet to a shambolic mess of noise. Everyone seemed to have an opinion on what happened and each one was shot down in turn by a mentally drawn Dumbledore. If he was honest with himself, he couldn't quite figure out the order of events either but he had to retain an image of omnipotence so to keep the masses as relaxed as he could. In truth, he took on board each suggestion and mentally dissected them, seeing if there could be a grain of truth drawn from each theory.

The only thing he could ascertain so far was that both events were connected. As different as the circumstances were, the two problems seemed to be linked. The woman at the castle said it herself after all and by her tone, she knew that the Order would never be able to stop it, regardless of whether she told them or not. There was also a similar air between the two figures. The both were immensely confident, bordering on arrogant, and neither was giving him anything to work with in his investigation. This implied that one, if not both of them, knew him at a personal level and knew not to give anything away. It was frustrating that finally someone was playing him at his own game but it was only a minor inconvenience. He would get the answers somehow, they knew this. It was only a stalling tactic to buy time.

It wasn't until the second week after his disappearance that new information came to light though, and by that time his stress levels were at an all-time high. He regularly made himself check the student registry to make sure Harry was still alive but past that there was nothing he could do to track his whereabouts. No tracking spells seemed to be working; even ones of his own designs, used to track even through a Fidelus, were coming up with nothing. It was unheard of and it was making him edgy.

It was on a late Friday night when there was the breakthrough. The whole order had been called in after a raid, and there was a lot of tension on the room. Molly Weasley especially had been frantic after young Harrys disappearance, often demanding that the headmaster do more. What more he could do he didn't know but he seemed to be able to placate her most of the time. Her husband Arthur could be seen trying to calm her down on multiple occasions and when the children were around they pitched in also.

Moody occupied his usual seat and the far side of the table on the opposite head to Dumbledore. His paranoid side seemed unable to let him sit anywhere there was a possibility that anyone could sit next to him. He was funny like that. Farther down the table was Molly and Arthur, usual worried expression on their face, white with lack of sleep with sunken eyes; yes they had taken Harrys disappearance particularly hard. Next to them were Diggle and Tonks, two of the aurors that had taken the trip to the castle when the intruder alarms went off. Their bruised pride hadn't taken too long to heal, since it was obvious their opposition was leagues above anyone in the room, including, he hated to admit it, even him possibly.

Albus had seen the fight on his pencieve and watched in fascination as this strange young woman duelled effortlessly with Britains best and seemed to take them down without even breaking sweat. She wasn't even using lethal spells, using imagination and finesse to outmanoeuvre and outthink her opponents. A lot of the spells she used he didn't even recognise which concerned him a bit, seeing that there wasn't a lot he didn't know magic wise. He was nearly 140 years old after all and had been learning for years. This girl was 16 and looked like she was barely out of school…in fact she should still be in school now but couldn't find anyone matching her description in any record anywhere. It was a complete mystery.

Tonks and Diggle seemed to be talking to each other about the fight in Hogwarts again with great enthusiasm. The talked about her as if she were their idol. It was amusing to watch considering that she could have easily been another Voldemort though her words seemed to indicate the opposite.

Next to them was Snape, his permanent scowl and impassive expression apparent. He had become increasingly more edgy since Harrys disappearance, which shocked Albus slightly considering the enmity between the two but he supposed that he still felt it was his duty to protect the child, regardless of whether he liked him or not. He seemed to have lost some of his bite, his bitterness not as infectious as it once was. He hoped this change was a sign of better things to come, but only time would tell. He had held onto the bitterness for far too long now.

Sitting next to him very quietly was Kingsley, a dark look on his eyes. He had not taken well to being put in the hospital wing after being thrown through a wall by the mysterious assailant and since then had been mercilessly searching for the woman with no success. It was like she too had vanished into thin air, though because no-one seemed to know her identity, there wasn't many ways she could be found.

Lupin and the Twins occupied the other side of the table, along with Fleur Delacour and her boyfriend Bill Weasley. They talked animatedly among themselves, about what he didn't know, but he guessed it was about another one of the twins amazing new inventions. They truly were ingenious. The Order had already put in hundreds of orders in for their curse reflecting hats and cloaks and they had already started to create a variety of different traps and gadgets for the use of Aurors in the field. They had proved invaluable and despite their mothers constant arguments, had been inducted as members almost without arguments. No doubt whatever they were cooking up now would be equally as useful. Even some of the joke items had come in handy, for instance an Auror only a week ago had used a skiving snackbox to break out of their cell once they were caught, crying out in their cell that they felt ill, and rushing out once the cell door had been opened. It was simply yet ingenious and could be used to fool the more mentally challenged death eaters among their ranks.

Remus looked like he'd seen better days but at least now he was smiling. He was another one that had been adversely affected once Harrys disappearance had been made known. Fleur and Bill listened attentively, occasionally laughing at the twins antics, though steeling glances at each other at regular intervals.

_Ah young love _Dumbledore thought.

Still, it was time to get the meeting underway and he tapped a goblet that he had set out in front of him to get everyone's attention, the room quietening down as he did so.

All at once faces turned to him, waiting for him to speak.

"Welcome, I am glad you have all made it tonight. I understand that for some of you, this was relatively short notice but we have a lot to discuss, some old news, some rather new. First of all though I would like to ask Severus to give an account of how Lord Voldemort is acting now that Harry's disappearance has no doubt reached him." He gestured to the stone faced man beside him, indicating it was his turn to speak. The potions masters eyes briefly flitted over to the headmaster but nothing more, as he slowly rose from his chair to speak, his usual drawling voice filling the room, despite the fact that he wasn't talking very loudly.

"It's…hard to say. Other than the ordering his subordinates to locate his whereabouts he's been rather coy about the situation. It's as if he wants to see how this plays out…no doubt that might change once he the people he's sent have come back empty handed but for now he's content with just playing the waiting game…he's ordered another few attacks on muggle settlements but I'm sure you already knew about that" he finished, his monotone never wavering, his voice never changing from the bored quality it seemed to leak as it left his mouth. It was a game that no-one but Albus actually knew; his way of keeping his emotions hidden. It also served to subtly deflect people away. It was well rehearsed and well used.

"Interesting…so he hasn't made any move to really find him?" Albus asked curiously.

"Other than sending a few of his death eaters, none…it's almost as if he doesn't care whether they fail. I surmise it's probably a punishment for those who have earned his ire seeing as none of his inner circle have been tasked with this" Severus replied. He clasped his hands together and sighed, indicating he wasn't done yet.

"It seems that even the dark lord no longer cares what Potter does. Maybe we should just stop searching and admit defeat. After all it's been two weeks, and not a sign of him has been found"

Under normal circumstances there would be a bite to his words, an stab at Potters character or likeness to his father; as it was his words seemed hollow, almost forced. It felt strange for his enmity to be so marginalised, seeing as that hard been pretty much what had defined his character for the last few years. While it was good that it seemed he was letting go of his grudge a little, the circumstances were far from idea and Albus would take the petty grudge any day over this new change of character.

Molly Weasley bristled at his words though.

"Stop searching? Stop searching?! He could be dead for all we know or in the hands of death eaters-

"If he were we would know. You think the Dark Lord is just sending followers out on a whim?" asked Severus with a raised eyebrow.

"Fine then but he could be with anyone! Anyone! We stop searching and god knows what we will find when he does turn up!" Molly practically screamed. She had been awfully panicked of late and the slightest thing seemed to set her off.

"Calm down Molly we are doing all we can, in fact in a few minutes we will look at the memory from his…escape I think we can call it, seeing as he left willingly." Albus sighed in frustration.

"Well do more. I dread to think of what he's feeling, being tricked away from his relatives like that. I've told you for years how horrible those people were! He would never have left if he was given a proper home"

"I've told you before he had-"

"Yes I know, he had protections but let me ask you this, who protected him from what was _inside_ the house. Year after year he has come to the Burrow, too thin and too withdrawn. If anything happens to Harry, this is on you and no-one else" she said, her eyes glowering.

It was true, he had made a lot of mistakes, but it was necessary. Without the protections, Harry would already been long dead since the Death Eaters would have found him almost immediately but as it was he was safe. He admitted he could have done more to check up on Harry while he was left there but in truth, the abuse the boy had suffered had hardened him up to be an individual he could influence and guide into what he needed him to be. He recognised that the way in which it had been done had been somewhat immoral but he felt he had to draw up some positive to the situation and here it was.

At the end of the day, only Harry could end this war; the prophecy had made this perfectly clear. Until one or both were dead, this war would continue to go on. He pretty much knew it was impossible to train him in such a small space of time so he had long resigned himself to the fact that in all probability Harry would have to die for there to be any end. It was another regrettable circumstance to a dire situation.

"This line of questions is irrelevant at this present time. We need to focus on finding him and bringing him back. I have brought my pencieve with me today so that we may review the events that transpired and come to a logical conclusion as to how to proceed." Albus said in his usually soothing tone, making eye contact with everyone in the room so they all got the message.

"Before that however we have other things to discuss. Has anyone identified who it was that broke into the castle a few weeks ago?" he asked, curious as to who this mysterious person was.

"No...shortly after our return to the Auror office that night, I contacted Madam Bones and asked her to do a profile on the mysterious assailant using the what little I could gather from our brief encounter and it I'll be honest with you, it wasn't much. She had black, hair, blue eyes and was in her teenage years but beyond that…we know nothing about her. Damned good fighter as well; impossibly fast and creative. She embarrassed my best team without even breaking a sweat…and this is a team that has taken down numerous dark witches and wizards" Mad-eye said with a hint of pride.

He was a man who had fought through many wars and knew the value of a good soldier when he saw one. He knew that his team wasn't embarrassed out of incompetence, they were just facing someone who was better than them. The only thing that irked him was that she wasn't even out of school from what he could tell and she was at a skill level he could only dream of. Taking a sigh and a swig of Fire whiskey he had sat in front of him, he continued.

"You've seen the memory Albus, she was extraordinary. I couldn't tell you half the spells she used and I doubt you could either. There was another thing I noticed about her as well. No fear. She didn't seem phased that she had to go through an entire team of Aurors to escape, in fact it looked like she was expecting it. If we could get her on side I'm sure she would be a valuable asset to us…the only problem is finding the woman."

"You want to recruit her? She breaks into a school that our children go to thinking it's safe and you want to recruit her? she could have killed someone" Molly Weasley screeched, getting a little irate. She was always protective of her children and children in general and to a man like Albus, her reaction didn't surprise her.

"She didn't though. In fact we don't even know why she was there. We did a whole sweep of the school. Nothing was stolen…and nothing seemed out of place. The only person who knows what she was doing there would be the woman herself."

"Could she have been working for someone else?" Asked Remus inquisitively. He had been quiet for much of the meeting and hearing his voice reminded them he was there. He had been unusually quiet of late, even for him

"Doubtful, he moves appeared unscripted and when she spoke I got the feeling she wasn't the kind of person that obeyed orders." Mad-eye replied with a wry smile, obviously remembering her arrogant swagger and her cryptic messages. It was obvious he admired her, even if he was rather angry with her at the time. Once he had calmed down he couldn't help but grudgingly admit that she was a worthy opponent. Being beaten so easily still smarted however no matter how much you sugar coat it.

"So you want to recruit someone that you know next to nothing about. She could be working for You-know-who and his death eaters for all we know. You should be arresting her not asking for her help!" Molly pressed obviously still unhappy with the idea.

"She's not working for _him_ I can almost guarantee that. Your right though, we know next to nothing about her. Are there any other ways we can dig up information on her?" Mad-eye asked, pointing his gaze at Albus.

"No…without her name we have nothing I'm afraid. The only thing we can do is wait for her to surface again and try and talk with her then." Albus said gently.

"Now for the reason why I brought you here tonight" he said gesturing to the pencieve he had brought with him. At the moment he had it tucked away in the corner of the room out the way but with a quick flick of the wand it floated up into the middle of the table. With another flick of his wand, the pencieve expanded to the size and shape of the long table so everyone in the room could view the memory. I wouldn't do to have to repeat the memory over and over again for those who couldn't see it the first time. In his spare time the night before he had made a few adjustments to the device so it was able to expand and change shape depending on what the use wanted it to do. It took a while but for a wizard such as himself, he managed it in the end.

A few people in the room raised their eyes at the interesting piece of magic but they stayed silent as the penceive rested on the table ready to use. They were long used to Albus making the seemingly impossible look easy.

"I took the liberty of adjusting the pencieve so you all could view it at once and come to a joint conclusion. I myself have viewed it a few times but I've come up empty so far. The womans voice that takes Harry seems familiar for some reason I was hoping someone here would recognise who she is. I myself have pondered possibilities for the past few weeks but each theory I have is more unlikely than the next. I am hoping some fresh minds might give new insight." Dumbledore explained, poking one of the memories swimming around with the tip of his wand.

Everyone's eyes were on the silvery mist like liquid in the bowel. It doesn't matter how many times you have seen or used a pencieve, the mysterious patterns and shapes the smokey substance made was somewhat hypnotic and drew in everyone's attention.

Reaching inside his robe, he brought out a small vial containing the memory he wanted to share. Unscrewing the cap, he tipped it into the bowel and used his wand to mix it in with the surrounding liquid.

"For those who have never done this before I suggest holding on to someone near to you, as the experience can be quite disorientating." He explained with a smile and a few of the Order members in the room grasped the hands or cloths of the nearest person to them. Taking one last sweeping glance, making sure everyone was ready, he dipped his head in the liquid.

_Albus and a small team of Aurors had just apparated outside Privet Drive, wands drawn. They had just received an alarm that Harry had been performing stunning spells repeatedly. They could still see from where they were standing outside the premise, the flashes of light indicating spells were being thrown. Questions were being raised to how a danger could even get past the wards surrounding the property._

_The wards that used Lilys blood, Albus designed himself. The core of them may be Lilys sacrifice but the nature of the wards were designed by Albus himself, designed to be infallible. He was explaining this to his fellow aurors when logic caught up with him reminding him that he should probably go in and defend Harry. He ran a few meters towards the house but was thrown back into the air ,unexpectedly firing him back into the road._

"Damn…didn't expect that. Looks like the wards were emotionally overcharged." Bill said as he viewed what just happened with an pondering expression.

"Unusual though. This kind of thing is rare…expecially from what I know about his living situation…" he said trailing off at the end as he was lost in thought.

"I'll be interested to what you have to say after the memory is over but for how let's just watch" Albus said, gesturing back to what was unfolding.

"Of course sir" replied Bill

_By now the flashes of spellfire had stopped and Dumbledore and his Auror team began working on the wards, trying to get past them. After a few minutes they surmised the only way to pass them was to bring them down. In this time Albus tried repeatedly to think of another way around the situation but seemingly couldn't find out. As the uncomfortable silence continued for another 15-20 minutes, he finally agreed, fearing the worst if Harry had indeed been injured or worse. After all, they hadn't heard anything from the outside for some time now. Not even his relatives had decided to come out for their customary rant about 'freaks' in his front garden. It was unnaturally quiet and it was that atmosphere that finally forced Albus to give in and let the aurors do their job. He also after a time, decided to help._

_Flicking his wand out, he pointed it at the house and started to cast various spells designed to weaken the wards he had placed. It was no easy task considering the nature of the wards. The were designed to be perfect and to withstand sieges by death eaters. He was lucky enough to have an expert ward breaker in his team but even then it was hard work, and beads of sweat started pooling on his forehead. This was a time when his old age really was a burden, since his fitness levels were not easily able to keep up with his younger brethren._

_It After a while he noticed the wards start to glow a pearly white, a translucent done forming around the house. There would probably need to be an obliviation squad called in later but the matter at hand was more pressing and he put as much power in his spells as he possibly could. The unnerving thought was that the slight glow in the air indicated that only 15% of the power was being drained from the wasn't until the glow was more red in colour and more pronounced that they would be anywhere near to bringing them down. This was where using the most protection possible was a real drawback._

The Order members that were brought into the memory watched on, transfixed by the display in front of them. It was very rare that you would see the Headmaster casting spells, especially in the frantic nature he was doing here. Glowing red and green bolts of energy were shooting out of his wand into the protective ward at high speeds dissipating into the shield as the ward absorbed the energy. So absorbed were they that they nearly missed what happened next.

_The front door opened slowly and out stepped two figures, one easily recognised as Harry and the other covered by a hood by clearly a woman judging by her frame. Harry had all his gear with him packed away as it seemed, and he kept glancing at the figure next to him, with a strange longing guaze on his face. This is what had stumped the Headmaster since he viewed the memory. Who could have possibly come that Harry would send that look to. The look on his face while slightly dazed, was Happy and Albus could remember the waves of happiness he could feel radiating from his Legilimency read. He couldn't read any futher however much he wanted as the ward system protected against that as well. He had implemented this so that no Death Eaters on the offchance they even found out where Harry lived, could find out anything from his relatives such as when they go out etc. It was hardly a big defense but it was just another layer to the extensive others that were in place._

_Now came the moment of truth. _

"_Greetings, I must say I'm impressed someone could possible pass the boundaries of this house without breaking the wards. If not for the grave nature of you doing so, I would offer my congratulations on your success"_

_"I feel I should take that as s complement" the unidentified person said in her cool voice. As soon as she spoke you could see Remus's face pale. He knew exactly who this was...or at least who owned this voice. It was impossible...incomprehensible but he knew. He had been around it enough times. Those others around him gave him a funny look, recognising his slight intake of breath but he wasn't the only one to incite a reaction. Molly Weasley also looked a little dumbfounded, as if she knew the voice as well but was mentally trying to place it. After a few seconds though the attention was back funny on the conversation unfolding in the memory._

_As the action unfolded you could see a few grins forming around the group. As dire as the situation was, they couldn't help but like the way Albus was taken down a peg in front of them. He wasn't as omnipotent as people made him out to be and you could see that here. Like the girl they saw fight in Hogwarts, here was someone who could use the tongue just as well as the wand._

_Lupin's face never seemed to change though, still pale and unreadable. It was like he'd seen a ghost, which, unbenounced to everyone else, was remarkably near the the case. The group were watching the scene with enraptured attention, watching in awe as the Harry and the assailant apparated away from the scene easily and Albus could do nothing to stop it._

A few seconds later the memory ended and they were back in their seats, thinking over what they had seen.

"I...I know that voice...I...it can't be possible" Remus's voice cut through the silence, his voice barely a whisper.

"What do you mean? Who is it?" Albus asked with intrigue. It had been something that had bothered him for a while. He too knew the voice and for some reason just couldn't seem to place it. It was maddening.

"Lily...that is Lily's voice. I can recognise that from a mile off. I spent all my school years with her. I spent more time with her than James with before my 6th year. That...is her voice...but that can't be possible can it?...I mean...she's dead" Remus said with disbelief. Albus took a sharp intake of breath at that news. Of course...that was why the voice sounded so familiar. But he was right. Lily is dead, it couldn't possibly be her.

"Are you certain"

"Albus it's definitely her voice...and from what I can tell her body. Same height, same build, same manerisms...it's her Albus"

"Lily died on Halloween 1981...I was there. I saw the bodies. It can't be her but at least this explains why Harry was so willing to leave. If he was approached by someone that resembled his mother, he would leave the Dursleys in a shot" he finished. He knew that it was impossible to come back from death so he was quick to shoot down any theory that it might actually be her. He didn't want them to be disappointed later and besides...there was no way back from death.

"Are you sure though? That didn't just sound like her...that embodied everything she was; witty, quick off the draw, even the way she walked."

"No...there is no way back from death. However we now know more than we did before. Anyone else have any thoughts...Bill, what did you mean by emotionally overcharged" he said gesturing towards Bill who looked to be lost in thought before Fleur gave him a sharp nudge in the ribs, snapping his attention back in the real world.

"Wha- oh yes, well from the way I heard you describe the blood wards, they are powered by his mothers love and sacrifice. It's rare but not unheard of to be found in my line of work as a curse breaker, considering the heavy protection they provide. However what I saw here goes beyond the normal design of a ward as you can tell. It should have allowed you through easily due to the way it was designed. You meant him no hard did you? So in theory it should have allowed passage. However the magic that created the conditions for the wards to be casted in the first place can sometimes use the emotions of those who live within the house to power the runes, though due to the use of blood, they can only use blood relatives and even then, only the most direct descendant. So it would be Lily, then Harry, then Petunia. Vernon isn't blood related so he doesn't count but Dudley could be used if he was the only person alive in the house at the time. It's all rather complicated and I won't bore you with the details but if I am correct, I believe in Harrys emotional state upon seeing his mother, he unconciously overpowered the wards and changed their nature. He knew he was leaving, and didn't want anyone to stop him, so magic did what he wanted, whether the results were conscious or not. That is my theory anyway I don't know for certain and I doubt we ever will...Blood magic is a very fickle think." He said shaking his head slightly

"As for why the wards fell so fast when they left, that's simply because Harry no longer saw the place as home. Once he left, the magic holding the wards together, failed and that was it. No matter what happens from here on in, you can't recreate the wards again." He finished

"I feared that. Thank you for you observation I will take that into concideration. I'm afraid as smart as I am I lack knowledge in such things. My strengths lie more in Charms and Transfiguration. I never really got into the subject of runes as much as I probably should have done. Thank you for your insight." Albus said with a smile

"No problem sir I'm glad I can help" Bill replied

"Anyone else have anything to add?"

"Surely we must find him as soon as we can. He's obviously being tricked by an imposter. Who knows what's happening to the poor boys as we speak" Molly said sternly, like it was the only course of action that should be considered. Where as the love she had for her children was something to be admired, sometimes it blinded her from the bigger picture."

"We don't know where to look, if we did, Albus himself would have gone to retrieve him himself by now. Even the tracking charms placed on him after he began Hogwarts aren't working. We are working blind. The only thing we can do is wait for a clue of some kind" said Moody in his usual rough voice. Reassurance wasn't really in his nature and this was the nearest Molly was likely to get from the grizzled Auror. Still, she didn't look happy.

"What now?" asked Tonks from the her chair, looking at her boss when she asked the question but really aiming the question to Albus.

"Now we wait. There really isn't much we can do now. I will continue to keep an ear out in case Harry turns up but I think it's safe to say that he won't be found unless his kidnapper is incredibly careless or he escapes on his own. Its sickening that someone would use the image of his dead mother to get to him but we can't do anything now." He stood up and brushed a speck of dust of his robes before walking away towards the door. It was time for him to leave. He had what he wanted and now he had planning to do.

After some effort over the last few weeks, he had discovered the likely location to one of Tom Riddles horcruxes and planning to go there the next morning. He could have gone there after the meeting but he was tired and knew that he needed his wits about him if he was about to attack one of Toms own horcruxes. There were bound to be powerful protections and he couldn't be complacent

"I'm afraid I must leave you now, as I have an appointment elsewhere. I will leave my good friend Alastor in charge of the rest of this meeting and I trust you will forward me with the minutes at a convenient time yes?". The grizzled auror nodded and everyone bidden him goodbye as he turned to leave.

While the meeting didn't yield as many answers as he had hoped, they did at least reveal some critical insight as to why Harry would voluntarily leave Privet Drive. It was perhaps more worrying than he originally thought. Merlin only knew what kind of condition Harry was in right now. He could be locked in a cell being tortured for all he knew. It was a rather unsavory thought.

He decided to put it out his mind for now, as tomorrow, he had a horcrux to find.

**Hoped you liked it, read and review.**

**This is a double update so next chapter is...well up in a few minutes.**


	7. Little Hangleton

**Here is my second chapter update of the day. You can see why I wanted to split them up yes?**

**Good :)**

**This is another unbeda'd chapter. For some reason my spellcheck isn't the most reliable so I do have a penchant for missing things. I hope to get better in the future since proof reading is not one of my strengths.**

**Thanks for being patient and waiting for the chapter. I thank you for your continued support and reviews.**

It was morning and the sunrise was starting to touch the tops of the trees and breathing into the open space the clearing was set in.

Helena was back meditating again, sorting through the endless spiral of memories stored in her mindscape. The pile of memories seemed endless, each shard of her life seamlessly flowing onto the next, reading like a movie real. It was enough to drive her mad. For hours each day she did nothing but sort her way through the chaos, stuck in a whirlwind with no end. She always ended the day tired and with a headache but she knew it had to be done. It she didn't she would get torn apart by her own mind.

She had felt what happened when her memories crept up on her. She was trying to cook a meal a few days ago and suddenly the image of herself giving advice to a student flashed through her mind. As soon as she tried to refocus, another memory from her past crept up on her. For more than an hour she was a prisoner in her own mind, unable to focus on anything till the images stopped on their own accord. For a while it felt like they would just keep on coming but they did indeed stop.

Now she meditated more and more frequently, determined for that to never happen again. For the first time, she actually felt like her knowledge was a curse, weighing down on her like an invisible anvil, ready to flatten her any second. She was teetering on the edge and she knew it. That was why she meditated.

Luckily for her the flashes had stopped and she was starting to find her Occlumency easier to apply. Her headaches were less than they once were and she was truly able to think coherently for the first time in a week, though to her it felt like years. The dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep were starting to recede and her usual calculated temperament was starting to return in place of the volatile angry one she had adorned the last few days. What were once majestic trees now lay in splintered ruin around the clearing, almost creating an organic wall against the outside world.

Now she finally had her own thoughts back she could plan her next move, something that she was hasty to do. She hated being unable to do anything. She couldn't even sneak into Hogwarts to get a book to read. What was the point when you knew everything it would have in it? She was a walking encyclopaedia of magical knowledge, and had procured quite a lot of muggle knowledge too courtesy of the large contingent of muggleborns over the years.

When she finally became tired again she withdrew from her mind and relaxed for a few seconds, letting her consciousness fully return before making an indication to move. She had made the mistake of moving to early before and ended up stumbling over. She was glad at that moment that she was on her own or it would have been rather embarrassing.

Walking over to one of the fallen logs she sat down and began mentally planning what to do next. She had destroyed the first horcrux, her mothers diadem, and brought some peace to her memory. The truth was she didn't really know what to do next. While she had been dead she didn't really observe all of Tom Riddles actions, she just looked at whatever interested her at the time. It was only her ghost that had this fixation on Riddle due to her own naïve mistake. She sneered every time she thought of what she had been tricked into doing. She had to destroy one her mothers greatest relics all because a madman saw fit to defile it with the blackest of souls.

She would destroy him if it was the last thing she did.

She began analysing everything she knew about her enemy. Tom Riddle could have chosen anything to make into a horcrux but in the end settled on the Ravenclaw Diadem, a valued treasure of the Hogwarts founders. This served to prove that he was arrogant and was likely to imbibe his soul into trophies of value. Next thing she knew was that he was very attatched to Hogwarts and where he came from. The moment he found out he was descended from out of the Founders he tried to found out all he could about his family and who they were. While what he found out didn't exactly please him; the Gaunts had fallen far and he hated muggles with a passion, it showed that he at least cared about his lineage. He was already attached to Hogwarts at that point, having no real family previously since he was left at the orphanage from birth.

Hogwarts was his home so it made sense that any more of his horcruxes, for she was sure he made a lot more, would be of both personal and nominal value to him. She couldn't be certain what they were but they must be Hogwarts related. He was too arrogant to use something as lackaday as an old shoe. No if he wanted to use something to house his soul he wanted it to be "worthy" of it.

She couldn't be sure what or where they were but she quickly realised she should probably take a journey to Little Hangleton, his families town or at least where they _used_ to live. Maybe she could pick up some clues from poking around there herself and asking a few locals. It was unlikely she'd find anything of note but it was a place to start and it gave her restless limbs something to do and her mind a single task to focus on.

It was time to get productive again. She had spent too much time meditating and sorting through the years of information built up in her brain. While her mind was still heavy, she could now plan her next move which made her grin in a rush of excitement.

She knew the Order were split at this moment. With half of them looking for her and the other half looking for Harry, it gave her a lot of room to move. They would never be able to find her; after all who would look in a dark forest on the grounds of the building you had just broken in to. As long as she stayed where she was, Dumbledore and co. were left on a wild goose chase chasing shadows that refused to slow down. As look as she kept to muggle areas, or places that were largely left alone by wizardkind, she could pretty much walk anywhere in anonymity.

Little Hangleton she admitted she knew next to nothing about, other than it was the birthplace of Tom Riddle and where his family had lived, both muggle and magical. As far as she knew, the Gaunts were the only known magical residents of the small town and they had passed on years ago. She knew that the Riddles had a large Manor over the hill but it had fallen into disrepair after Voldemort killed them, since the ominous nature of their deaths had incited a lot of fear about the old building being haunted.

Truth be told she quickly realised that this was one trip she couldn't really make a plan for; she had to just get on with it and deal with any problems as they come. With or without more information she doubted it would make much difference and with a huff she got up off the fallen log and wandered into her shack to change. She conjured a simple midnight blue robe and adjusted the holster on her wrist to its fastest draw setting in case she came across any trouble. After picking her wand up from the wooden table next to her bed, she clipped it in place and strode over a mirror she had fitted on the far wall.

Regardless of the professionalism of her attitude, she still took immense pride in her appearance and took a few minutes to fix her hair before she moved on to her other cloths.

Within half an hour she was done. It didn't take long when you didn't have any possessions to call your own. She toyed with the idea of getting into the Ravenclaw vault at a later date but for the time being couldn't think of a workable way to get in and out of Diagon Alley, let alone Gringotts itself, undetected. She didn't mind being a minimalist, but it didn't have its drawbacks. For one she kept having to reconjour furniture every few days when the spells started to wear off and they started degrading. She could also use some new cloths as the ones she was so used to conjuring for herself were no doubt years…more like centuries out of fashion by now.

Sighing to herself over this small dilemma, she refocused her mind and left her small abode, walking slowly across the clearing to the side farthest from the school. She chose this spot for a reason. This was where the schools anti apparition wards stopped. The Shack was positioned just inside with wards of it's own so if anyone came, however unlikely that was, she would know. It was a perfect fail safe. Standing on the spot where the wards were absent she visualised the gloomy town in her mind from when she was watching Harry and Voldemort fight a few years ago, silently wishing Harry would get lucky and perform a miracle. No such luck unfortunately but it did give her some hope.

What bothered her was how someone aged 14 can go toe to toe with Voldemort, knowing he was probably going to die and show no flicker of fear while the rest of the wizarding world cowered at the mentioning of his name.

Those were the thoughts that were running through her head as she disappearated with slight pop.

When she reappeared, she was standing in the middle of a gloomy graveyard outside Riddle Manor. It was brighter than she remembered it, though admittedly it was night time where she previously saw it. The graveyard remained as creepy as ever, the large stone angel over Tom Riddle Seniors grave staring out at her with unseeing eyes. At first glance the place looked like any other graveyard, albeit with some very creepy obelisks. It was only to a witch like Helena that you could tell something was off with the place. You could feel traces of evil in the air, the residue of dark magic and spellfire.

The air was thick with it, like a dark cloud that loomed over the area except the day was as clear as night. There was barely a cloud in the sky and the sun was warm. She quickly used her aura and let the magic flow through her eyes, letting her see in colour the magic that surrounded her. It disgusted her. Dark hues of red and black covered almost everything in sight, like a film noir, taking away almost all colour from her surroundings. Where Voldemorts body rose from resurrection was some of the darkest magical signatures she had ever seen, almost glowing a sickly black. She didn't even know that black _could_ glow but glow it did, acting almost like a black hole, drawing the slightly less dark, not by all means still evil, magic around it.

She was just about to switch off her magical vision when she noticed something as she turned back to the gravestone. A light pink hue seemed to be glowing on the ground, seemingly unaffected by the darkness that engulfed it. Whenever a piece of dark residue tried to drag it into it's maw, it sat still, resolute as concrete and didn't give in.

She took a step closer to the strange aura on the floor noticed a dark stain on the floor no doubt where Harrys arm had been cut for the resurrection. What piqued her curiosity was that while the air surrounding the grave had the dark stain of evil attached to it, this tiny spot where the blood fell housed some of the purest magic she had ever felt and nothing appeared to be affecting it.

Love magic.

She had heard of the magic before obviously but never once used it or even seen it used. Running her hands over the tiny stain on the floor she felt the slight tingle of the magics purity brush against her own and it felt euphoric. She almost had to force herself to walk away, so lost in the feeling she was. It gave her already overworked mind something else to chew on. She had not realised how powerful love magic was. She had often wondered how it was that Voldemort, the fiercest wizard of his age, was beaten by a mere toddler. She knew little about Prophecies but knew that prophecies don't just fullfill themselves, so the prophecy couldn't be the reason. It was only after feeling what she just felt did she realise the extent of Lilys sacrifice. It was untouchable magic. There was no counter…no cure, no way to block it. It existed to serve only one purpose, to protect. By throwing herself in front of a curse for her son and invoking the near mythical magic, Harry had been placed under a protection that Voldemort could not get through even if they wanted to. The purity of it was something that he could and would never be able to comprehend. Someone so evil can't touch something so untainted.

Struggling to turn away from the grave, she forced her legs to move towards the front gates, wanting to get out of the graveyard as soon as possible. The evil that permeated the air hung like a mist and she couldn't wait to be rid of it. She closed the gate behind and her and started walking up into the centre of the empty town. The townspeople hadn't seemed to have woken up yet and she used the inactivity to explore a little, though she kept vigilant just in case. With all the evil in the air the town seemed uneasy and the lack of people deadened the atmosphere further.

She circled the towns border, mentally mapping the different buildings and taking note of where roads interconnected. It was a skill she had learned in her youth, and served to show her the towns layout without putting herself in an danger. She quickly realised that Little Hangleton wasn't actually that large. In fact it was a tiny settlement, largely dominated by the Manor and the graveyard that surrounded it. She found it rather odd that someone would build a house in the middle of a graveyard but that wasn't really important. What she was trying to do was find any clues on whether Tom had hidden a Horcrux here and whether anyone knew of him as a child or who his parents were.

This was more of a research expedition than anything else.

She had just finished circling the western edge of the town where she noticed something that piqued her interest; an old orphanage. It was boarded up but she could still see the faded letters that indicated what it once was. The windows were dusty and a lot of the stone had eroded, signifying that it had probably been closed down a while. Strangely this wasn't what immediately sparked her interest.

She could feel a faint muggle repelling charm around the building, circling the area like an invisible bubble. This indicated that there was something to hide here and she made to get a closer look. Still curious, she checked to make sure that no-one was looking and muttered "Scourgify" at the window, clearing it of his grime.

She took a quick peak inside, and noted how clean the inside looked compared to the outside. Where as the outside was dilapidated and in ruin, the interior looked like it could very well still be in use as from the window she could see a largish sports hall. She couldn't see much else but the muggle repellents alone were enough to warrant a further look. Carefully stepping up the front steps where a broke sign hung, she snapped her wand from its holster cast a quick opening charm on the door.

"Alohomora"

Nothing happened

"It wasn't going to that easy was it" she signed before switching to more advanced unlocking time

"Infitialis Obfirmo" she muttered at the closed door. A small yellow light ejected itself from her wand and through the doors keyhole. In less than a second the lock seemed to melt away and the door swung from its hinge. It wasn't the the kind of charm one would use if they wished to close the door on their way out but it served its purpose today.

She was about to step in when she felt something off and reached out with her magic, sensing the air around her. It was a good job she did too, as she could sense the place rigged with magical alarms that she would bet quite a large pot of money would alert Voldemort to her presense the moment they were tripped. From then on he would likely make the guess, and the correct one at that, that his horcruxes were in danger and protect them even more than they were now. She couldn't have that.

Lifting her wand again she swept the air in front of her in a complicated movement, being careful to string each motion perfectly.

"Extrico Timor Quod Defaeco Aer Of Veneficus... Extrico Timor Quod Defaeco Aer Of Veneficus... Extrico Timor Quod Defaeco Aer Of Veneficus..." she kept repeating the words over and over again, spinning her wand around again and again. It was a complicated spell and required intense concentration to perform. Most wizards would be found out within minutes. This wasn't a simple alarm spell, this was an entire building rigged send an alarm if so much as an atom was put out of place. Even Dumbledore would leave this place alone.

As she recited the spell, repeating it in a firm voice, she took slow steps into the threshold of the building. Even without the dark magic saturating the air, she could tell this wasn't a place of happiness when it was in use. The rooms were practically spartan, their small enclosed cells each containing a single dresser and a wardrobe and nothing else save the bed. Each room looked the same, nothing to differenciate, nothing to personalise. As Helena moved forward casting the spell to destroy the alarms, she noticed how there seemed to be no colour at all. The walls were just a pasty white as was the floor save the thin layer of dust that coated the furniture. Occasionally she would spot an old newspaper laying on one of the dressers, evidence that there was there was at least life of some kind here once.

After a while she could sense no more alarms and stopped casting the spell. It felt good to not have to concentrate so much anymore, since she had barely taken notice of the area around her. All she could ascertain was that the area was unnaturally clean and all the rooms were nearly empty. Taking a deep breath she walked herself back to the main entrance and reception.

The reception desk was in the same bare state as the rest of the room, the only things there being a small stack of papers and a small signing in book. Reaching over out of curiosity, she picked up the small signing in book and started looking at the names. The last entrant into the small book was over fifteen years ago.

_Interesting_

That gave her an idea as to when the orphanage closed down, though she felt it strange that Voldemort would set up repelling wards and alarms so close to the time he dissapeared. From what she could understand, he created the Horcruxes a lot earlier. Maybe she was wrong. There was obviously much she didn't know about the man and could have easily made a mistake. Either way this just piqued her curiosity more and she deined to look around more.

Being careful not to disturb anything too much, she quickly checked the stack of documents on the desk but found nothing of interest, just paperwork on incoming and outgoing children, and the families that adopted them. With a final check to make sure she hadn't missed anything, she moved on and started checking each of the dorm rooms.

They were more like cells but she guessed to children they were much the same thing. Each room was pretty much identical save the occasional poster and even then the rooms still felt souless. The beds looked uncomfortable and hard, the only real comfort in the rooms being a small set of pencils and paper that were neatly placed on the dresser of each room uniformically. She reached out with her magic to check each room as an aid to her eyes, seeing as there really wasn't any visual difference between rooms. A few times she wondered if she had accidentally checked the same place before she counted the doors back to the main reception, realising that it was just the layout that was messing with her mind.

She had been checking for a about twenty minutes when she senced it.

As soon as she reached the door she knew instantly that this must have been Toms room. The ambient magic around the place was so sickening her stomach clenched. The door was closed and locked, which she found odd but when checking with her magic, she senced no enchantments on it, signalling the coast was clear to open it and there were no alarms. Shrugging her shoulders she cast a simple unlocking charm and wandlessly pushed the door open revealing the interior.

To the untrained eye the room looked exactly the same as the others, down to the pencils on the desk and the slightly grubby windows. The bed was in the same pristine condition as the others, and the furniture held the same lifeles air to them. What she felt when she entered was a different story. She could feel the evil, the hate. Tom hated this place and everything it represented and she could _feel _it, like his loathing had etched itself onto each wall like a rune.

The hate that hung in the air was palpable. This wasn't just a child that had grown to be evil. He was _born _evil and she realised that even with a loving family and support system, he would have turned out the same power hungry behemoth than he was now. There was no way this man could have ever been saved. Dumbledore must have seen the signs but he obviously ignored them. Why she would never know but the fact that the evidence was so blatant did make her wonder how this could have happened. There were dozens of people that could have stopped him before it was too late.

Too late for them now. Now there was only one person that could destroy him, all because of a prophecy that was _made_ real by the mere fact it was believed in. Self fullfilling to the end.

She turned towards the wardrobe and stared at it, feeling an urge to look inside. _Maybe he left something behind_ she thought. It was doubtful but it was possible, after all this place must be protected for a reason right.

Reaching out she took the handle and slowly opened.

What happened next happened very fast.

Within a fraction of a second she was blown through the wall before her ears even registered the sound. It took her a couple of seconds to get up and brush the debory off, back in pain from the sudden unexpected impact.

Still slightly dazed, she blinked off the blurriness that affected her eyes before she gasped in shock.

Now back in the main foyet, Inferi seemed to materialise out of thin air like a mirrage except this was no illusion. At first there was only a couple but more and more appeared, turning on her with cold dead eyes, seeing her without really seeing anything. Addrenaline pumping she flicked out her wand and and started casting.

"Incendio!"

The fountain of fire flowed from her wand but what shocked her is that the fire didn't even touch the Inferis body, arching over it as it touched an invisible shield.

"Oh shit." She swore, looking around. The bodies were advancing and her back was against the wall, she could feel a sharp pain in her back where she suspected she had broken a rib, shaking her head, she rapidly started casting spells, trying to find a weaknes in the shield, while backing away as much as she could to buy her time.

"_Stupefy! Impedimenta! Diabolus Telum! Vulgus Offensus! Atrum Incidere!"_

She sent of each curse in a chain, moving from least powerful to most in a seemingless pattern. It wasn't until the shocking curse left her wand did the shield break on the first inferi, leaving it undefended when the dark cutting curse came. It's leg came flying off as the black and red spell impacted the limb, leaking blood everywhere while at the same time burning the skin.

If this human being was alive then it would have been screaming in pain. Since it wasn't, all it did was fall to the floor, struggling to move. It still tried though until the next curse left Helenas wand.

"_Incendio"_

The body erupted in flame, soundlessly burning.

"One down...a couple of dozen to go?" she quickly looked around a did a quick head count. It was one of the first things she had been taught when she learnt to duel. Know your surroundings...Undead surrounded her from all sides, making escaping impossible at this point. The only way out was to fight her way out.

"Fine...I should have known this little mission of mine wouldn't be that simple would it." With a flourish she started casting spells again, aware that she was being pressed from all sides. She was careful not to walk towards the exit, incase the inferi made it outside. The last thing she wanted to do was put the muggle population in danger.

"_Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Impedimenta! Reducto! Reducto! Confringo! Incendio! Atrum Incidere! Impedimenta! Diabolus Telum!...Cruor Tempestas!"_

She cast spells in all directions, pirrouetting and spinning around in a graceful arc. Not all of her spells were aimed to kill. Some of them were just designed to knock the body back, giving her the precious seconds she needed to make use of the next spell. A fraction of a second before the last spell left her wand, she sliced her wrist slightly and cast a blood magic spell. An arc of energy that consumed her spilt blood and fired a bolt of energy from her wand so powerful that four of the inferi before her crumpled in ashes. The wound healed instantly, like all blood magic spells but it came at a price. It drained her terrible and she resumed her use of normal spells, careful not to wear herself out. She had been out of the game for a while, no need to over extend herself.

"_Incendia Verbero!" _she enchanted and from her wand spouted a long arch of orange flame. Using all the control she had, she flicked it towards two of the onrushing inferi and it flashed against their sheilds, flaring slightly as the hot flame touched it. Glancing back to see how much room she had, she spun the flame around in a circle, whipping the walking dead away whether they got too close.

_How many of these are there! Did Tom just decide to kill a whole village and place the bodies here? And how on earth did they just suddenly appear I should have noti-...oh god this a trap._

The realisation her her like a tonne of bricks. This building didn't serve to protect anything of value, this building served as a grave to whoever came snooping around Riddles past. The alarms, the inferi...this was a trap plain and simple.

_I am not going to die here_ she resolved, flailing her wipe in confident swipes.

It was becoming more and more difficult to fend off the torrent of undead pouring towards her. The moment she cut one down, another took it's place. Some of them carried knives, others threw heavy stones and bricks. More than once she had to use her free hand to wandlessly banish projectiles thrown at her.

Her wandwork was becoming more and more frantic as they uncomming hoard slowly gained on her. It was relentless; as soon as one body was blown back another came to take it's place.

Her fire whip swung in the air like a lassoo, wrapping round bodies of those with broken shields and throwing them at others just to buy a few more seconds. That was all this was really. Buying time. Dispelling her whip she resumed her normal spell casting

_Stupefy! Stupefy!...Impedimenta! Diabulus Telum! Diffindo! Lacero! Sectumsempra! Cogo Aer! ...Cruor Servo!_

The last spell left her wand as she cut her wrist again, letting the blood flow out. No sooner had the first drop spilt from the wound did the flowing blood turn into green fire, encasing her body like a cacoon as she walked. She felt no heat from the flames, though when one of the bodies used the seconds she used to cast the spell to attack, the body was incinerated by the flame ruthlessly. Helena knew that keeping up the flames could weaken her, she just needed time.

She ran though the crowd, advancing her, the flames incasing her body incinerating any who dared come near. She moved up one a set of stairs adjacent to the main entrance, hoping that Tom hadn't had the sense of mind to put Inferi on the upper level, though it was highly likely that the ones on the upper level had already been drawn downstairs. The stairs were the kind that stopped in the middle, then reversed on themselves, still going upwards, like you would find in a school. This gave her a distinct advantage as when at the top, it gave her more time

Running as fast as she can she eventually made it to the `1st floor and luck appeared to be on her side. There was nothing here. _Good_ she thought.

She dispelled the flames, since they were a drain on her magic and kept her wand on her hand, waiting for the rush of bodies to follow her up the stairs. Now she had the advantage since they could only attack her from one direction. She wasn't going to stupid and disregard her flank completely but chances are the only danger she would have to face would be right infront of her.

She took a couple of deep breaths, using the precious seconds she had to steady herself. She could feel the blood pumping her her veins, the blood rushing through her body in fast and hard beats of the heart. Oh she had missed this, the rush of a good fight. There was nothing that made you feel more alive than the possibility of being dead in a few minutes. The addrenaline rush was unparallelled, unmatched.

In those precious seconds of reprieve, she started working on a plan. It was crazy, it was insane.

It was Helena.

As the first Inferi came up the stairs she twirled her wand in her hands, smirking as she did. The advantage had suddenly shifted in her favor and she was going to have some fun. She didn't attack straight away, instead opting to wait until more had come up the stairs.

1 turned into 4, 4 turned into 12, 12 turned in 20...it wasn't until another 5 or so started ampling up the stairs did she finally start casting spells.

"Bombarda!"

She casted her spell, putting in as much power as she could manage, knocking about 7 of them into the wall behind. Even with their shields, they were thrown through the air like ragdolls. 3 more advanced on her weilding knives, their eyes sunken and hollow. Perhaps the more disconcerting thing was that one of them was a child, no older than nine or ten. It made her feel sick to have to destroy her. She had to tell herself that she was already dead, but it was still hard. She could feel her wrist shaking as she send a Dark Fire curse at the undead child, blasting through her shield and burning her body in a blaze of crimson flame. There was no scream of pain, no look of fear. There was no look at all.

Any look would have been fine. It would have showed some kind of life, some spark. All she saw now were victims of a war that probably wasn't theirs to begin with. The were almost certainly all muggle. It was doubtful they even knew what they were dying for at the time. How sickening must it be for them to know now they are just being used as marionettes to a madman intent on creating a deadly mausoleum.

Now with pretty much all her focus to her front, she started casting a stream of spells in quick succession, each one seemlessly flowing onto the next like a dance. She could feel fatigue creeping up from the blood magic but she still fought hard, ignoring the protest from her limbs as the worked. the air was full of different colored lights, a fireworks display of magical energy. She put so much power into her spells that they all turned into a deep blue hue, her signature color and living proof she was a Ravenclaw.

_Stupefy! Diabulus Telum! Sectumsepra! Lacero! Vox Offendo! Impedimenta! Immobulus! Aer Vis Porro!_

The speed of her dance was frightening, her body moving in a blur as the spells kept flying. Bodies were pushed back and thrown across the hall, landing on the ones behind, taking them out of the action for a while too. She couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face. She was really starting to have fun now. She detatched herself from the fact that these were the lost lives of muggles that had 'Got in the way' and now she treated this like a training exercise, testing her spell arsenal with different kinds of magic, all the while increasing her casting speed.

The last spell cast sent a wave of white energe out the tip of her wand as she flourished it in the air, a giant wave of wind blasting through the narrow corridoor. Those who's shield she had broken were blasted through into the back wall above the stairs, the force nearly sending them through.

_Abyssus Incendia!_

She casted with a sence of foreboding. The deep red flames pouring out of her wand forming into the image of a large flaming bull. Stray flames flicked around her lighting the walls of the building like the were made of paper. Flamability meant nothing to Fiendfyre. Everything it touched burned. Fire held no mercy it just ate through all that was in it's way. The bull stood there for a few minutes before it charged, it's red hot horns locked down as it ran towards its prey, the hoofprints burning the floor as it touched. She was perhaps a hundred yards now from the main stairs and the mob before her advanced slowly, a crowd of bodies acting as one. It reminded her of some the Zombie films she had heard some of the muggle borns talk about at Hogwarts. She had never watched a television but some of the descriptions sounded remarkably similar to this.

The bull kick it's firey hoof to the ground and charged at the mass of advancing bodies.

Inferi didn't posess fear and neither did they posess logic. The simple walked on, waiting for the charging bull to meet them, forward as if the flames didn't even exist.

They only had eyes for Helena.

The bull tore through the nearest body like it wasn't even there, the fire melting through it's dead skin like plastic. The stench in the air after was horrible and she barely had any time to register it before it plowed through the dense crowd behind it, burning everything in it's wake. Pretty soon the air was thick with the smell of burning flesh, the Fiendfyre destroying everything in its wake. Once there were no more bodies to burn, the flames turned themselves on the walls and floors, eating through the wooden floors.

With a last flourish of her wand, Helena turned her back and ran as fast as she could towards the nearest window and jumped through it.

_Aresto Momento_ she casted as she fell and her decent slowed just a little before she hit the flor with a crunch. She winced in pain as her muscles strained under the impact.

Wasting no time, she turned back to the burning building and quickly raised her wand and chanted, voicing the words as to not make a mistake.

"Coerceo Vomica Flamma, Permisscum Nusquam Sicco"

With that her wand glowed a light purple and a dome enveloped the building like a sheet. The shield acted as inpenatrable barrier that stopped the flames from spreading. Looking up at the building she could see what was once the top floor of the orphanage in complete ruin, a funnel of flames billowing out casting smoke into the morning air.

To the average muggle, it would just look like the building was on fire. They would call the fire brigade but find they couldn't actually get near it, due to both the repelling ward and the shield Helena had just set up. She didn't really care about being seen. The statuet of secrecy was someone elses problem for today. Taking a deep breath and stealing one last glance at the burning building, she walked away up the road.

She was furious with herself. _Of course it was a trap! It was too easy! There was no concealment, the alarms should have been enough of a clue by itself but my stupid Ravenclaw curiosity just HAD to get the better of me didn't it._ She mentally berrated herself for being so foolish. The Inferi had very nearly caused her trouble, and only the timely use of Fiendfyre and some quick thinking had saved her life. It wouldn't have been so difficult if it wasn't for the strange shields they had, causing her to have to cast 2 or 3 spells just to make them vulnerable.

_It can't have been a spell. Shield spells don't last that long and I didn't see any jewelry so it can't have been a warded neclace...it just doesn't make any sense...unless..._

_...Their bodies...something must have been on their bodies...or in them. Now how...aha!_

_Runes! He must have cut them oven, carved runes onto their skin and repaired them! Clever...if I didn't despise you so much I might actually be impressed._

__She walked away and didn't look back. She had no desire to watch the building burn knowing what was in there. Now that the fight was over her mind could actually comprehend what occured and it disgusted her. Men, women, children and teenagers killed, for no other reasons that to be puppets in another mans game. She could remember each and every face of those she had downed, and even though they were already dead, the act of destoying them made her insides clench. _Why did they have to die? _There was no correct answer. Why did anyone have to die? In wars people always died and when you looked back on it, there was never a good excuse you could use to justify it

Why did you shoot this soldier?

Because he was shooting me.

Why was he shooting you?

Because you were shooting him.

Violence cycled violence and the end was always the same.

She was walking for about ten minutes before she came to a shack. This wasn't that remarkable except she could clearly so an aged old man looking at it curiously from a distance. He had not seen her, this much was obvious and she decided to hang back, looking on at this strange person circling the building. The shack itself was rather run down. It looked like whoever had lived here before had been long gone, the windows boarded up and shattered glass strewn out on the floor. She thought she could even make out the figure of a snake nailed to the front door like a decoration.

It was rather morbid.

Taking care not to get caught, she quickly cast a Dissillusionment charm on herself and a sound dampening charm before moving forward, slowly but surely to try and get herself a better view. The sun was now high in the sky and the heat was bearing down but she did her best to ignore it as she crept closer and closer to her quary. She didn't need to get too close to recognise who it was that she was seeing.

"Well I'll be...I wonder why _you_ are here" she whispered to herself.

Milling around the old house was none other than Albus Dumbledore. Now this was interesting. What possible reason could you have to come here. Come for a little holiday? She mused with a chuckle.

"Yeah right like you'd ever take a holiday..."

The answer was rather simple in her mind. He was here for the same reason she was. Most people would probably take hours pondering over why he was poking around a relatively unremarkable town but for someone like Helena it was simple, simply because of the common goal they shared. Besides this shack wasn't that interesting. Why would arguably the most powerful wizard of the age be interested in a run down little shack like this? Sure it looked rather unyeilding and perhaps a little strange but other than that it wasn't exactly somewhere special was it, just a run down pile of wood and stone.

Albus looked utterly fascinated by this hovel in front of it, as if it were the most interesting thing in the world and _that_ is what made it interesting. She watched him like a hawk as he brought his wand out from beneath his robes and started casting spells against the property. At first she was panicked by the fact that they were in a muggle area and someone might see him but then she looked around and realised who would want to come this way? It was downright creepy and besides most people were probably out watching the orphanage burn down.

He casted a few spells at the wards she now guessed was covereing the property from head to toe. She was pleasently surprised at how fast his casting was at such an old age, each wand movement leading onto the next as he muttered complex ward breaking charms. His eyes were closed and his concentration was immense, his wand never ceasing it's movement. Reds and Greens and Yellows rolled off the wand and before long a pearly white glow emnated from the area around the house. She could feel the magic charged in the air.

Truthfully she was mentally slapping herself at this moment. She should have felt the magic in the air but she dismissed any notion of it as she walked past before, instead she was walking into the orphanage that was in fact a well laid trap that she was lucky to escape from, and here was Dumbledore, stripping away the wards of what was likely the real hiding place of the Horcrux. It was highly unlikely the wards were just there to protect the house...the house was far from in a good enough condition to be worth protecting.

She stood there patiently, invisible to the aged wizard before her. It could have been half an hour, an hour or even more before the wards started to glow red, she didn't know, all she knew is that slowly the wards were being overpowered and stripped away and soon enough the were gone, the energy exploding out like a bomb going off. She had to raise a shield instinctively as the magical surge exploded out from where the wards once stood, burning anything in it's path. The light was blinding and it too a few seconds before she could see again.

Unsurprisingly, Albus remained unharmed and she could him smile as he trudged towards the front door. Taking her que, she edged forward even more, being careful to make sure that she didn't make any noise that would alert him of her presence.

He seemed to be testing the waters, walking slowly towards the front door, making sure there was no more danger. It was a curious thing really, seeing Albus work methodically, making sure that all the protections were indeed gone. Not many people actually got the oppotunity to see him before magic as most of the time, just his presence was enough to deswaid any opponent from attacking.

He was mostly a name, his skills were just secondary.

After a few minutes he must have figured there was no more danger, as he flashed his wand towards the door and unlocked it. Well unlocked it was a loose term, as he practically blasted it off it's hinges before walking in. Helena took this oppotunity to get even closer, confident that the Headmaster was now otherwise occupied and wouldn't notice her approach. Still still masked her footsteps though just in case. So engrosed in his work he was that he didn't notice when she was barely a few metres outside the door.

The room itself was a hovel, a desolate mess of dust and debory that was so thick that it was hard to believe this place was once habitable. Wooden desks were covered with thick layers of much, the wood split from rotting and damp. Unlike the orphanage, it was obvious that Tom cared little for it's appearance, which while strange, wasn't enough to really think about. The orphanage had been a trap, so naturally he had to make it look like there was somthing there. No-one would come here unless they already knew what they were looking for. Albus kept reaching out with his hands, no doubt feeling the magic around him for the horcrux. Helena nearly slapped herself when he did this and worked quickly to mask her own signature before she was caught. She used this same technique herself...she should have known a wizard as powerful as Dumbledore would know how to use it. No need to get spotted just yet.

She barely concealed her aura in time, the warm sweep of magic washing over her from Dumbledores probing seconds after she reined all her magic in, concealing it behind her thick layers of Occlumency.

He continued to sweep the dishevelled house, keeping his wand out incase of danger. The ceiling was split open, letting the afternoon sun shine down in places, the streaks of light a vast contrast to the darkness within. It wasn't just the physical darkness, you could feel the magical one as well.

The horcrux was definitely here.

The bile was already forming at the back of her throat, the distinct feel of the dark artifact infecting her like a disease. This was also coupled with a great sense of anticipation, as she knew that in a few minutes, another part of that bastards soul was going straight to hell. It felt good to be doing something producting. Watching her ghost self help this man unwittingly was torture, and even when she realised her mistake she was bound to the school and couldn't do anything but watch on as her one mistake cost the lives of hundreds.

Ok so maybe it wasn't just _her_ mistake but it was a mistake that contributed to his power nonetheless. Here she was doing somthing that put right those wrongs and made an actual different.

Oh how she wanted to make a difference.

After a while Albus suddenly stopped walking, coming to a halt at a broken wardrobe. There was nothing fancy about it, and the doors were hanging on for dear life, their rusted hinges almost broken clean off. His eyes narrowed as he reached his hand out inside the open space, feeling the magic in the air. Like her, he could feel the dark magic that signified more wards and snapped his hand back before any real damage could be done. Grasping his wand, he brought it up an arc and muttered a spell under his breath, though she couldn't quite hear what it was.

A slightly white glow was was emited by the wardrobe but other than that, nothing. She could feel the ward was down. It seemed Tom was arrogant enough to believe that the outside ward was enough and he didn't need any aditional protection. She could see a small box on the top shelf, partially hidden by shadow.

Albus reached across and picked up the box up tentatively, examining the dark wood carefully before wandlessly unlocking it. Lifting back it's lid, she could see him look in, searching for the item he seeked. It was all rather anticlimactic really. Now that the Horcrux was so close, the momentousness of the occasion was lost, and the anticipation dulled. There was no doubt that it was going to be destroyed in moments, no doubt at all. After being forced to destroy her own mothers prized diadem, nothing could really come close that feeling. It was more personal. This, this just felt like chore.

He found what he seeked after only a few seconds, you could see the eyes light up on the old mans face, their customary twinkle shining brightly. Putting the box down on one of the splintered tables, he reached in and picked up something, though what, Helena couldn't see. She dare not risk getting any clower lest she be spotted.

It was at that moment she realised something was vastly wrong. She could feel something emnating from the object that was dark, foreign, and it wasn't the Horcrux. In fact there were a number of things that she didn't recognise on the object but the most prominent was darkness. She could see Albus's eyes narrowing and his curious look replaced by that of...longing?

"It can't be..." she heard his whisper. _Can't be what?_ she wondered.

The longing look in his eyes was more pronounced now and she could finally see the small object that had caugh his attention, as he now had it held against a beam of sunlight examining it carefully. It was a ring, a small ring with ornate carvings. It was a dark gold colour, and bore a black stone in the middle. She could see there were also markings on the stone but she couldn't make out what they were as she was too far away.

She could swear she felt a familiarity towards the stone, something that sang to her almost, though it was masked heavily by the sinister overlay of something evil end unyeilding.

She could feel what was going to happen next.

His eyes were becoming clouded, and emotional turmoil was evident. Moving almost in slow motion, he made to put the ring on his finger.

_What the hell is he doing he hasn't even destroyed the Horcrux yet! Can't he feel the curse! He's going to get himself killed._

She had literally seconds to act. Does she stop him, and reveal her presence in the process, or does she stay hidden in the shadows, and watch this play out. She didn't have time to think about the pros and cons, she just had to decide. This wasn't what Ravenclaws do. They plan.

She needed to be impulsive.

_Screw it_ she thought.

Flicking her wand out, she quickly dispelled the dissillusionment charm, though making sure her hood was still drawn, and aimed it at the ring in the Headmasters hand. For most normal magicals this was an impossible shot. It was very lucky she wasn't most people.

"Stupify!" she shouted as loud as she could. It was a weak spell but it did it's job. In an arc of red light it sped towards the ring in the Headmasters hand and slammed into it, propelling it across the room and out of his hand. The minor drawback with shouting the spell so loudly is that she had barely a fraction of a second before Albus spun round and shot a stunning spell back at her, though she easily caught it with a Protego, the energy disspating on the shield before it came within a few feet of her.

"Now that isn't very polite is it?" she said with a smile. Flicking her wand in the air slightly and catching it in her palm.

"You could half hurt some body. You should be more grateful to someone that has probably just saved your life." she quipped.

The headmaster looked at her slightly warily but his his eyes still gleamed. She could feel a slight pressure on her Occlumency barriers but they it was barely an itch to her. She wasn't feeling paticularly vindictive so she just let him bounce off the protections rather than attack back.

"To who do I owe the pleasure. You'll have to excuse me, I'm at a dissadvantage, to what are you refering to when you say 'saved my life'" he said curiously, his warm smile creeping back.

"I would think that would be obvious wouldn't it?" she said rolling her eyes The ring was cursed, cursed far beyond the horcrux that was already inside it. Don't tell me you didn't feel it drawing you in"

"Interesting...I'm afraid I didn't, though it would explain why I was so willing to put it on before I had really checked it. I'm curious though, how is it you have come into the knowledge of Tom's horcruxes. It isn't exactly widely known that he has them." He said in a measured way. She could see he was weighing up the pros and cons of obliviating her in his mind. The thought made her laugh internally, since it was doubtful he would be able to do so much of a dent. Even if he managed to cast off the spell, a feight that was still unlikely, her Occlumency was so well refined that no memory charm would work on her. It was one of the long forgotten arts of occlumency; the abilty to completely sheild the mind from tampering.

She quickly evaded the question and got to the point, hoping to divert his attention from herself, at least for now.

"I have my ways as do you. Now don't you think we should dispose of this?" she said, gesturing to the rings which was now on the floor. She could feel the curse acting now she was closer, imploring her to pick up but she ignored it, her vast Occlumency shields in place. Where Albus had expert mind barriers, Helenas was on another level, due to the sheer amount of information she had stored in her mind. She could certainly feel the draw but she wasn't about let that own her.

After Tom Riddle she wasn't about to let _anything_own her.

Albus glanced down at the ring too but she could feel he was fighting a loosing battle.

"I'll do it...stand back"

"Ammysmus Insendia" she muttered as the fire sprung from her wand and ungulfted the ring in a deep red fire. Now that she was used to her increased intelligence, she could concentrate far harder on the fiendfyre and she ordered it into a small orb of fire that surrounded the horcrux like a cage. She could feel the heat of the fire against her face, almost blistering in it's intensity. Albus looked on with wide eyes. Not much surprised the aged wizard but he was simply astounded at the level of control this witch was commanding the fiendfyre with. To be able to minimise it to the size of a small football over a single object require the utmost concentration and control. It was something that even he couldn't do which is why he never used the spell.

The ring was almost completely ungulfed in the cursed fire, barely visible behind the flames but after about a minute, black smoke started to escape the small piece of jewelry. Helena could see it trying to escape the fire but being incinerated as soon as it touched the fire. It almost screamed in protest, literally, as a dissembodied voice cried out in pain, filling the small room with a hauting voice that barely sounded human. The smoke was trying to form a shape; a face but was being constantly broken up by the flames. The cage was strong and unyeilding, the orange flames encasing it like a cacoon. Helena made them thicker and thicker, as the deathly spirit kept trying to escape the Horcrux, putting pressure on the barriers.

Before long the screams died down, and the flames receded slightly. She let the flames consume the small piece of jewelry for a few more seconds making sure the Horcux was well and truly dead before flicking her wand in an upwards moving, flinging it into the air, the fire dissapearing.

Before it could hit the ground she wandlessly cast a freezing charm and held her palm out to catch it, the metal cooling before it could touch her skin, though it was still warm. The metal polished at clean, all traces of grime that might have been there, sterilized in the flames and burnt off, the black stone set in it's centre still glowing a pale orange, even though metal encasing it was now only slightly warm to the touch.

It was now just a ring.

"Impressive" said Albus who was now standing behind her with pensive expression.

"Damn right it is" Helena managed to laugh out, though panting heavily with exertion. She kept eye contact with the Headmaster who merely nodded his head at her proclamation.

He stood there perfectly still for a few seconds weighing up the young girl in front of him. At least to him she appeared like just a girl. He didn't know she was in fact a thousand year old ghost in a teenagers body. Then again, who would ever make that assumption?

It was only a few seconds but it seemed like an age, neither saying anything to break the silence that was hanging over them like a dark cloud.

Finally, Albus decided to break the silence, his curious streak winning out in the end.

"Forgive me, I don't know your name"

"And nor will you sir" she said flatly

"I see..." he said looking thoughtful. On the outside he seemed nonplussed but Helena knew that he was taking on board everything she said and filing it for analysation at a later time. It was the kind of person he was and moreover, it was something she would do if she were him.

Albus's mind was whiring right now, taking in the appearance and demeanor of the person in front of him. She appeared 16, maybe 17 years old, and was dressed in expensive combat robes, though they were a little ages in style. There was little doubt in his mind that she was the Hogwarts attacker, she could recognise both her voice and her manerisms. What baffled him was why she was in Little Hangleton. When he left the Order meeting the previous night to plan out his horcrux search, he was sure that he was the only person that knew of Voldemorts origins and his soul containers. Here was someone who obviously knew all about them and had come to the small hamlet with the same goal that he had. He could deduce that easily enough. He was also pretty sure that he owed his life to her, as he only felt the curse on the ring once it was thrown from his grasp. It was a horrible dibilitating curse that at the very least would have lost him the use in that arm.

He briefly flitted with the idea of obliviating her when she first mentioned the horcruxes, to keep the knowledge of the horcruxes are secret but he disgarded that quickly. He had a chance to gain what could be a very valueble ally, even if she was quite a bit younger than he would normally allow into his inner circle. Anyway, he had questions and to get the answers he would need her trust, something that he had to get her to do.

As if to answer his own thought process, Helena then spoke.

"You didn't think I'd make it that easy did you? I'm not a tool you can use at your leisure" she said, quirking an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Albus asked, pretending to play innocent

"You know exactly what I mean." She said with a wicked smile. "Just because I'm not against you doesn't mean I'm on your side."

"And what side are you on?" he asked.

"My side" she said matteroffactly.

"Your side?" Asked Albus, looking intrigued. "Surely your not suggesting your doing this on your own. Your only a teenager are you not?" he asked eyebrows raised.

"Yes and? Age is just a number. People far younger than me have been affected by this war" she said bitterly.

"That is true but your still only young..." he started though he didn't get far.

"I repeat, far younger people than me have been affected by this war." She said said, her tone icy and cold. So cutting was her voice, that the headmaster momentarily flinched, his hand rest loosely on the handly of his wand

"Don't give me the age speech, it's patronising and demeaning" she continued.

"I've heard it before. And aren't you supposed to be trying to convince me to help you? I can see it in your eyes. Immediately saying I'm too young is rather counterproductive don't you think? I told you anyway, I'm on my own side. We may have the same goals but our methods are far from similar. I helped you today because you forced my hand. That won't happen again. One of these days your going to learn that this is everyones war, not just your own and that you can't expect people just just follow the rules you provide. It's not how the world works and if you believe that, then Voldemort has already won" She said, turning away.

"It was nice meeting you Professor Dumbledore, good luck finding the other 3." She said before stepping back out the buildings threshold and apparating away without warning, leaving a very flustered Albus Dumbledore behind.

The first thing she did when she appeared back in her forest dwelling was laugh out load.

_He must be tearing his head out right now_ she thought while laughing madly.

She had no idea how true that was.

**Well there it is, I hope it was worth the wait.**

**For Lily fans, don't worry, the next few chapters will be focussing on Lily and Harrys journey, I just wanted to show you what was going on elsewhere. It may look like I have abandoned the protagonist of the story but don't fret, Harry and Lily are going to get a LOT of screen time in the foreseeable future.**

**Read and review :)**


	8. AN

**False alarm I know. Just letting you guys know I am not dead. My computer died and I had to wait over a month to get a replacement sent, and unfortunately what I had on chapter 8 was inside that machine. The data is all there but since it took so long to fix I lost me way a little bit and needed time to get my writing chops working again. I'm currently a good way through chapter 8 and with a bit of luck I should have it posted by the end of the week**

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**. I already have part of chapter 9 done as well so hopefully updates will return to a regular pace when all this is done.**

**Thanks for the understanding guys and as usual if you have any questions, gimme a message :)**

Next post should be in the next few days. See you then.


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